Nicole Akstein’s Revealing Portraits of Her Mother

Born to Brazilian immigrants, Atlanta-based photographer Nicole Akstein delivers an evocative series Mother, Mãe. The work follows her mother, unfolding in a non-linear narrative that she says “speaks to the ever-evolving nature of its subject with imposing curiosity.” The images undulate with moments of tension, liberation, reflection, disappointment, fantasy.

Akstein captures her central subject not just as a mother, but also as a woman; saying the images are “less biographical and more indicative towards notions of age, beauty, relationships, and the human condition.” It is within that moment of accepting a parent as first and foremost a person, that much can be revealed—we are grateful Akstein does this. The work balances just between personal and universal, exposing mother to daughter, daughter to mother and self to self.

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