Be Good.
"First, your parents, they give you life, but then they try to give you their life."
–Chuck Palahniuk (Invisible Monsters)
This work explores the experience of oppression and inevitable understanding as a result of pressures and expectations from a typical Jewish mother. I derive great influence from my own life, family, and my connection with the Jewish community and culture. I pose myself as the stand-in for each photograph to further the idea of self-deprecating Jewish humor; poking fun at myself and at a situation that without humor would yield devastating ends. Many images embody the stereotypical Jewish mother’s ideals and worst-case scenarios for their children. Other photographs show a reluctant resolution and compromise that unavoidably defines many mother-daughter relationships. Within a Jewish community, accomplishments of a child reflect heavily on a mother’s ability to parent. Excellence is the only option. In such an absurd environment, the only survival tactics are to indulge these exaggerated expectations or to laugh.
To request full statement, contact webmaster via "contact" tab (top right)