This Mom Spent 17 Years Documenting Her Son Growing Up And The Pictures Are Very Powerful

Published 6 years ago

Annie Wang is an internationally acclaimed photographer from Taipei City, Taiwan. Back in 2001, before her son was born, she started a photo series titled ‘The Mother As A Creator‘. In the series, she documents her child growing up and it has been an ongoing project for 17 years.

In the world of mothers where everything is hidden, the best way to speak out is through the strategy of self-representation, to express various parts of the self. I, as a woman and a mother, have tried to actively create my own self, instead of being passively interpreted by a male artist, as is traditional,” said the artist in an interview with Bored Panda.

The photographer thinks being a mother shouldn’t be only about being selfless and sacrificing yourself. “The Mother is like an artist doing her work while calling upon her own wisdom. The Mother not only creates a life but also creates continually a continuous and fluid matrix of experience between Mother and Child.”

‘The Mother As A Creator’ aims to show how becoming a mother changes the artist. Annie takes a picture of her and her son each year and poses in front of that picture the next year. “Therefore, different layers of my son and I emerge on the same surface after a lengthy accumulation of detail and texture. Different stages of my son and I are overlaid, and from the different pictures, we have created a dialogue with each other in this dimension upon compressed dimension. From within these dimensions will emerge a new depiction/visualization of Motherhood,” explained the artist.

See the amazing pictures for yourself in the gallery below!

More info: Annie Wangh/t

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2001 – The day before I was due to give birth

Image credits: Annie Wang

2002 – Pressing the camera shutter together

Image credits: Annie Wang

2003 – My son’s leg was in plaster

Image credits: Annie Wang

2004 – Celebrating Christmas

Image credits: Annie Wang

2005 – Setting up the exhibition

Image credits: Annie Wang

2006 – Working hard

Image credits: Annie Wang

2010 – Moving and uncertain

Image credits: Annie Wang

2011 – Making dreams

Image credits: Annie Wang

2014 – At the same height

Image credits: Annie Wang

2018 – Arguing for freedom

Image credits: Annie Wang

Image credits: Annie Wang

Image credits: Annie Wang

Here’s what people had to say about the powerful photo series








Aušrys Uptas

One day, this guy just kind of figured - "I spend most of my time on the internet anyway, why not turn it into a profession?" - and he did! Now he not only gets to browse the latest cat videos and fresh memes every day but also shares them with people all over the world, making sure they stay up to date with everything that's trending on the web. Some things that always pique his interest are old technologies, literature and all sorts of odd vintage goodness. So if you find something that's too bizarre not to share, make sure to hit him up!

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Tags

annie wang, artist, mother, photographer, series, son, taiwan, Taiwanese, the mother as a creator
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