A Month With Mom by Viktoria Kovshikova

Issue 169

These photos are about me and my mother. About a connection so fragile, that it can only happen between a child and a parent. About the innermost feelings; About a thread that can break, when the child leaves her home... When a child leaves her mother’s house.

My mother and I live separately. Once, being for a long time alone, I felt sad because I was not with her. We rarely meet, but we often do video calls. But sometimes I think I don’t know her at all.

My mother is 53. She got used to her work at kindergarten, to her domestic life; to the village and people around her. It’s hard to imagine that a person who has settled down so much, will leave everything behind.

Mom has always been a creative person. She helped me to cope with art projects, she always was crafting something. And she continues to do so to this day. But I feel sorry that she could not fully realize her potential in her youth because she gave it all to her family and children.

For my mother to feel inspired again, I thought it would be nice to awaken a forgotten sense of creativity in her, even if it is just for a brief moment. I wanted to see this world through her eyes: I gave my mother a point-and-shoot camera and several rolls of film, and then asked her to photograph her surroundings for a month. At the same time, I was doing the same with my life.

This month has helped me get to know my mother better. I saw her favorite things; I realized how she spends every day and I saw aspects of her life that I couldn't see any other way. I compared what happened to us at the same time. I saw how similar we look at and perceive our environment - and realized how strong our connection is. Looking at Mom's photos, I see myself in them.

I feel that we have become closer to each other.

Viktoria Kovshikova (she/her) lives and works in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
viktoriakovshikova.com | @shoribaketsu