96 pages, 16.5 × 23 cm, limited first edition of 100 Design, printing and binding: Hady Barry September 2024 ISBN 979-8-218-53091-4
i am (not) your mother 85 USD
At 13, I became responsible for the care of my three younger siblings, the youngest of whom was only seven. We had fled the civil war in Côte d’Ivoire and arrived in Senegal in November 2002. Shortly after, my mother left for the U.S. to seek asylum for herself and for us. We would not see her again for three years. During that time, our father was largely absent, traveling frequently for work. What I remember most from that period is not just the overwhelming responsibility, but the profound absence of both parents—leaving me with a deep sense of abandonment that I still carry awkwardly in adulthood.
i am (not) your mother is a confrontation of the trauma I experienced during my teenage years and how it continues to shape my relationship with my mother. It is an attempt to process the complex feelings I have towards her —an unsteady mix of hurt, resentment, admiration, and love. The work interweaves documentary photography, archival family images, journal entries, and transcribed conversations with my mother.
The book has won the Juror’s Special Mention from the 2024 Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards. It was on view at Paris Photo from 7 - 10 November 2024 and will travel to Printed Matter in New York in January 2025.
APERTURE PHOTOBOOK AWARDS
For its 2024 edition Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards received 940 books from fifty-nine countries around the world. A final jury met in Paris on November 7, 2024, to select this year’s winners. The jury included Kim Bourus, founder and director, Higher Pictures; Azu Nwagbogu, curator; Lisa Sutcliffe, curator, Department of Photographs, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Jean-Baptiste Talbourdet-Napoleone, creative director, M le magazine du Monde; and Mame-Diarra Niang, artist. Read more about all the 2024 winners here.
PENUMBRA FOUNDATION RISOGRAPH RESIDENCY
i am (not) your mother was produced over the course of 10 weeks during the Penumbra Foundation Risograph Residency. I am immensely grateful to their support and that of the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation All 100 editions were printed and bound by my hand.
