Photography
for me links the personal and the political, the private and the public.
I use the camera to make connections, to encapsulate, image, concretize,
record, remember, share, point to perceptions and relationships.
My life, my kids, my friends - at home, at work, in the community at
large - are the themes of my art making. I place diaristic, intimate
images within a cultural, political context. This approach also informs
my work with The Montreal Health Press, a women's collective which publishes
books on health and sexuality for mass distribution.
In the photograph above, my children's friendly, intimate interaction
with the dove in a friend's home is a moment resonant with the symbolic
implications of peace and hope for a more just society in a militaristic
world armed to the teeth.
The main preoccupation of my camera over the years has been women's
work as mothers. Giving Birth is Just the Beginning: Women Speak about
Mothering / Donner naissance n'est qu'un début: Les femmes parlent
de la maternité, my recently published book, combines photographs
of the women of my community with excerpts from interviews with them.
I use photography as a part of a process of reflecting on and understanding
our lives as women.