PAUSE - Examining the mid-life experiences of women who have care-giving roles through photography and story sharing.
As a photographer I am drawn to capturing women in caring roles. By photographing moments of connection between a mother and child I help women see the value of their role. This is much easier for mothers of young children because the nurturing moments, and care provided, are more tangible. It is easy to see how much time and effort goes into taking care of young children. But as the children move into the tween and teen years the ways in which women support their families becomes less obvious. Women entering middle age continue to expend huge amounts of their time and energy in caring for their families, but this work is rarely documented. Many people assume that mothers are needed less at this time, but these women realise that maybe they are needed even more, just in different ways.
Care-giving can be a thankless, never-ending round of mundane little jobs that can feel overwhelming. On becoming mothers, women often pause their careers, hobbies and life aspirations, maybe expecting that at some point in the not-so-distant future they will un-pause and continue pursuing their personal goals. While some women are able to pick up where they left off, or head off in new directions, others continue find that the load of caring leaves very little space in their lives for other pursuits. This can leave some women feeling overlooked, left behind or frustrated. By shining a spotlight on all the little ways that mothers tend to the needs of their families, I try to make women feel seen and appreciated.
Alongside this shifting phase of motherhood women also realise that there are changes happening within. Perimenopause and menopause start to play havoc with their health, their energy levels, their sense of what they know about themselves. At a time when their children near adulthood women wonder if they might be ready to start a new career, resume hobbies or pursue new interests and projects. But sleep problems, mood swings and brain fog can all impact how they manage to juggle their many roles. They still often prioritise the needs of others over their own desires; aging parents or elderly relatives start to take up more of their time, there might even be grandchildren to care for now. And for many women, their children are not ready to fly the nest once they reach adulthood, especially those whose children have extra support needs.
During this photography project I will speak to women who continue to provide care for their families and find out if, and how they carve out time to themselves. Through photography I hope to tell the story of these mid-life caring roles that women hold, which are just as important and valuable as looking after young children. By documenting and celebrating their stories, I hope that the women will recognise their own worth. They may feel inspired to un-pause some of their hopes and dreams or encourage others to carve out time for themselves despite their caring responsibilities.
Get Involved!
Would you like to be part of this project? Do you think you have a story to tell? Would you like to share your experiences of mid-life with others?
If you are interested, please complete the questionnaire by clicking on the button below. This does not commit you to take part, but will allow me to find out more about you and then we can chat about how we might be able to work together. The questionannaire should take no more than 10 minutes of your time.
Many thanks!
Do you have questions?
How long will it take? There is no set time commitment to be involved, but the questionnaire should take about ten minutes. Then we would have a short zoom/phone chat of about 20 minutes. Then I would visit you at home or somehwere that you spend a lot of time to take photos. The photography session would take anything from 30 minutes to a few hours, depending on how we have decided to tell your story.
What will the photos be of? This will depend a bit on your situation but they may be photos of you spending time with your family, or of you taking part in a hobby. We might decide to take some portraits or to focus on objects that tell your caring story. We would chat about the sorts of images you would feel comfortable with before our session.
Would I get paid? No, but you would have digital copies of the images to keep.
Where would the images be shared? You would need to sign a model release which would grant permission for the images to be used in various ways such as in an exhibition, book, online etc. Again we can discuss this before your session.