After shaving my mother’s head and feeling that our roles had been reversed, I realized that my project was not just a documentation of my mother’s illness, but of how we were navigating it together. It seemed important to insert myself into the narrative. (Injections in Bed, March 8, 2003, from Journal: A Mother and Daughter’s Recovery from Breast Cancer/Courtesy of Annabel Clark)
A few days before Christmas in 2002, [photographer Annabel] Clark’s mother, actress Lynn Redgrave, was diagnosed with breast cancer. As the pair struggled with the diagnosis, they decided to turn the disease into a photographic journal — “to make it less scary.” It was a defining moment in many ways. Not only did it bring mother and daughter together in ways they could never imagine, but it also made Clark the photographer she is today.
This is part of a series called “Family Matters“ on NPR’s Morning Edition explores the lives of three multigenerational households struggling with issues of money, duty and love. It’s about the stresses and joys of caring — it’s life.
If you live in a multigenerational household, we would like to see what your life looks like. Upload your candid photos here or share on Twitter and Instagram with the tag #nprfamilymatters.