Past Mother Project

This is June Fitzgibbon, my mother (who I call mum), who passed away in the winter of 2024. My lovely sister-in-law took the photo for a resident's pass and I can see the love in my mother's eyes reflected back. It is a wonderful photograph, just taken with a cameraphone but with a special connection between the two women. Mum wouldn't let me photograph her in her old age as 'she didn't like the way she looked'. This photograph is therefore also rare.

We all wish to outlast our children and with that wish comes the loss of a mother. I usually research before beginning photography projects but in this case I've decided not to, as I want it to be an exploration of my own feelings as far as possible. Though I appreciate that they are inevitably affected by the universal experiences of grief we cannot avoid. Also, I'm aware that this type of project is on well-travelled ground and there would be a wealth of material on the ways others have approached the topic, if I chose to look.

However, there is one photography project that is etched in my mind from when I first viewed it many years ago. That is Rosy Martin's Too Close to Home. Unfortunately the images slide show is no longer working on her website (I suspect a victim of legacy coding) but her 1999 essay is there, which I've downloaded and will read when I'm done with my work. I recall that the images were mostly of her deceased mother's home and the traces she'd left. I already suspect that my project will rely heavily on traces in past images made and found.

Onwards.

Photography by Ann-Marie Fitzgibbon