For
me this image continues to speak of the tension for parents between
holding on and letting go. We negotiate a delicate balance in a world
where the reality is that kids often come home from school before Mom
gets home from work. Yet the key stands as a tribute to the trust between
them, as the youngster straddles between shadow and light, between the
safety and comfort of her mom in the distance and the responsibility
of being an independent young person. Lulu's assured look of quiet confidence
and resolution is bolstered by that key around her neck.
Gary Michael Dault comments in Children in Photography: 150 Years, that
the key "becomes an insistently symbolic key, a key to the kingdom
of her future womanhood." We can only wonder about what balancing
acts face her ahead.