Other Madonnas

These chosen images are located somewhere between documentary and fiction. Much like many short story writers, I am interested in the internal domestic world and it's hidden secrets. The photographs focus on the relationship between mothers and daughters.

I have concentrated on capturing the countenances and postures of the subjects in the most minimal surroundings with particular attention to natural light. The resulting images become somewhat formal compositions influenced by Dutch genre painting.

I asked the subjects to sit and lie in a variety of poses and postures for the photographs. The intimacy of the interaction between us often resulted in poignant verbal disclosures. This built up an intense psychological interaction of which I was part. My own mother stepped out of the conventional framework of idealised all giving mother.  An early separation was followed by a continual redefinition of how our relationship would work, as the maternal role is replaced by a tentative combination of sister/mother/daughter/friend. Julia Kristeva writes that 'beings do not spring into the world as discrete or separate subjects and that the infant comes into being without separate borders.' It seems however that the subject must learn to draw the line between herself and the other, to invent an identity as a separate being. A tension is thus created which remains unresolved.

The ethics of depicting others brings with it a minefield of issues. I see these images as more of a collaborative effort than simply the fruits of my own creativity.

email: rubiness@gmail.com