Poignant Pics no. 83: On Jacqueline Walters’ “My Mother”
“Mothers are like glue. Even when you can’t see them, they’re still holding the family together.”
My Mother
Many artists balk at writing about their work. “If a picture is worth 1000 words, then I don’t need to write about it,” they say. But what when the picture alone cannot convey all of the meaning? What when the writing changes the work from confusing to enlightening and precious? What when the writing is the icing on the cake?
Such is the case of this work by Jacqueline Walters. I saw it on my Facebook timeline and found it was inscrutable. But she wrote, oh, did she. What she wrote cleared the way for understanding and melted my heart. It made me love an image that I might have passed over because I didn’t understand its message at face value alone.
I mean, when you look, at first glance, it is somewhat confusing. A zipper, a photo, some flowers. A lumen with a photo on top. And it is quite different from most of the work I have seen from this artist. It got my attention, yes. But, her writing on the post about her memories of her mother said all the things I could not figure out on the image alone. Without that statement, I would not have come to understand and love it as much as I do. And thereby, we see why writing an artist’s statement is a critical part of communicating with our audience.
Walters told me, “This was a lumen print that, try as hard as I might, simply would not fit into my current project. After much thought, I realized it was because it made me think about my mother.” The zipper triggered memories of her extremely frugal mother saving buttons and zippers from their clothes for future use. She had grown up in a household where sweaters were hand-knitted and clothes were homemade, and she stated, “My mother’s hands were always busy.” And despite knowing this, we still do not have the entire story. She elaborated, “When my father died, we found a photo of my mother taken early in their marriage hidden inside his wallet.” Ultimately, she determined that marrying both was the perfect remembrance.
Walters has been killing it of late with her lumens. But this one brought that something extra that makes you want to keep looking…IF you have the story. So tell viewers your story in words and images. Help us know what makes your art special and different than everyone else’s.
As usual, Jacqueline, I wait to see what something enticing you do next. Bravo.
Artist Bio
Born in Cambridge, England, Jacqueline Walters is a fine art photographer based in San Francisco. In her artistic practice, she explores the transformation of place, layering of time and space, and memory. Since 2009, Walters' work has been exhibited in over fifty juried group and several solo exhibitions. Her work has been published in LENSCRATCH, SHOTS, Artdoc Photography, Dodho online, and AAP Magazines. She is a 2023 Critical Mass finalist.
Author Bio
Diana Nicholette Jeon is an award-winning artist based in Honolulu, HI, who works primarily with lens-based media. Her work has been seen both internationally and nationally in solo and group exhibitions. Jeon holds an MFA from UMBC.