Mothers and Daughters is an aptly titled series of portraits by photographer Julie Fullerton-Batten that explores the complex and ever-changing relationships between mothers and daughters. It is said that there is no bond like that of a mother and her daughter and Fullerton-Batten’s series illustrates how especially unique these familial ties are over time.
Choosing to use real mother-daughter pairs in their own environments instead of models posing as kin in an unfamiliar setting, the photographer says, “I only needed to orchestrate the sitters moderately to show the essence of their emotional bond. They created their own small world together, at the same time, through the staging of the scene, reviving my memories of my own family’s relationships.”
The project was inspired by the memories of Fullerton-Batten and her two sisters’ own relationship with her mother, as well as their mother’s relationship with her mother. It is a never-ending cycle of complex connections that evolve over time. As can be seen through the series, “the babe-in-arms is fully dependent on the mother, but at the other end of the age sale, the mother often becomes dependent on her daughter to satisfy her emotional needs.”
