Mom By Tiffany Sutton
Suttons in Technicolor is a body of work created prior to leaving college in 2003. Unable to exhibit the final portfolio at the time, I have decided to give closure to the project 17 years later. Shot on color film and often underexposed, these candid and documented moments with my Mother are evidence of my constant practice and learning curve as a photographer and artist. Looking back I see a similarity between the work in Mom in her Natural State and my current practice with an emphasis on conceptual growth.
Influenced by photographer Tina Barney and her images of the upper and high society families around her. Barney’s work features family members gathered casually posed in grand living and dining rooms; these images showcase the siting families wealth. In my photographs, I am not emphasizing wealth but instead documenting the strength of my mother. I am rarely in these images as I chose to focus solely on my Mother, determined to catch every moment of her daily life.
Mom On Bed, 2002
I spent more time in my parent's room than I did in mine. We would watch movies and TV shows, primetime, and each of us would be in various stages of undress. It was not uncommon for anyone to be in our underwear. And I told her that no one would see her underwear anyway.
Mom In Living Room, 2002
Mom is waiting for me to come home and I don’t remember why.
Mom On Couch, 2002
This Mom is at her most relaxed and content in this image.
Mom Besides Dad, 2002
Throughout my life my Mom has been taking care of my Dad. As the primary caregiver and provider, she had a lot of pressure on her. In this candid, she's giving me her classic, ’stop taking pictures in a VA hospital before you get caught’, look, but I never shied away from capturing this part of our lives.
Mom with Santa Claus, 2002
I'm not sure why she collects Santa Claus’ but it makes her giddy as a child. Seriously, she has so many Santa Claus’.
Mom on Patio, 2002
I ask my mom how she met my Dad. She smiled after this shot.
Mom Outside, 2002
After my Dad died, she lost the necklace he bought for her. It was gone for a while, through snow, heat and rain, then as she was walking to the car, she saw it. I like to think that he kept it there for her to stumble upon and remember how much he loved her.
Mom with Mask, 2002
While in University, I was very into masks. The idea was that we all wear one to cover-up our true selves. Mom is who she is either with a mask or not and that makes me proud.
Photographer Tiff J. Sutton was born in 1981 in Rochester, NY, and was raised in suburban St. Louis, MO. She began documenting family and friends after receiving a Kodak camera as a Christmas gift in the early 1990s. While primarily a self-taught photographer, she also attended classes at Washington University in St. Louis and St. Louis Community College. As a woman creating photographs of other women, her work asks her subjects to turn their female gaze on themselves, thus challenging their prior self-conceptions previously created by the male gaze. Sutton works with film, digital, and instant cameras.