Kathryn Rodrigues

Homesick

My current work explores ideas of transcendence within a domestic setting and the psychology of motherhood. As a primary caregiver of young children, the majority of my time over the last several years has been spent at home. These circumstances have only been exacerbated during the pandemic.

This can often feel isolating and mundane, and as the pandemic has worn on so have my feelings of containment, exhaustion and anxiety, as well as my desire for space, connection to the natural world, safety and autonomy.

I began an ongoing series of self-portraits taken in our yard and around the exterior edges of our house. By choosing to photograph using medium format film, I created space and time to explore and slowly compose each photograph. As I wandered outside alone I was confronted with the objects my children interact with regularly such as a child-sized rake, tent, hammock, a pile of leaves and Halloween decorations, all items commonly found in suburban backyards. I also used my body as a way to delineate the edges and boundaries imposed by both motherhood and the pandemic which speaks to my continual investigation of the interior and exterior both psychological and physical.

These images capture the dichotomy of my liminal moments of freedom outdoors while also remaining restricted to our property, moments I spent alone but also in plain sight of our children and neighbors, longing for connection but also for the security of separation.

Homesick

Anonymous

Lucie Unsworth