Tierney Gearon Film

This documentary was very interesting. In Tierney's body of work called "The Mother Project" she is being accused of exploiting her mother. Throughout the film, she is trying to show what it is to be a mother. She shows through her photographs that everything in life is not perfect and  people will make mistakes. When i look at her photographs I feel like they have a very natural and care free feeling to them. She is not trying to exploit her mother or do any harm. I truly think she is doing it because she is trying to show something important through her work. I think her work is more personal than people think, isn't that what matters the most. Why do we all do photography? Because its what we love and we photograph things that mean something to us. That is all she is doing.  Some of her images are a little uncomfortable to look at but I think there are many artists that take similar risks.  I think it hard to say what she is doing, as an artist, is wrong. I think her body of work is very personal and it is important for her to do. People looking at her work might feel uncomfortable or not agree with what she is photographing but that is what photography is all about. If photographers didn't take risks and played it safe, photography would be boring. I think some of her photographs are beautiful and some can be more controversial. 


Another artist that work is viewed as controversial is Irina Ionesco. She took photographs of her daughter and she received the same scrutiny that Tierneys work received. Her daughter was only five when she began photographing her in sexual poses. Eva(the daughter) ended up suing her mother three times for emotional distress. The public saw her work as lacking morality and artless. The public turned against her work and did not agree with what she was photographing. I think Irina was trying to produce a shock factor and show a little girl as a women. I don't think she was trying to exploit her daughter. 


Another artist that has been viewed negatively at times is Sally Mann. Sally Mann also photographer her children nude. She stirred up controversy also and was seen as exploiting her children and child pornography. She was also looked down upon as a mother by the public. Her work was similar to these other two photographers in the sense of the shock factor. I don't think she was trying to cause any harm. She was trying to show something through her photography like any other photographer trys to do. She wanted to show the natural and "true" process of children growing up. The truth is sometimes life can be uncomfortable and things might be hard to look at her grasp but its life. And all she was trying to do was show this shock factor through her series called the "immediate family" . I think her photographs show reality and what it is like through a maternal view. 




Here are some examples:


                                                                     Tierney Gearon

Irina Ionesco

Sally Mann