Christopher Rivera

Smokey and Christine, 2022

Trauma is a familiar sentiment that my family has endured for generations. These experiences create the conditions where one’s relationship with a loved one can shift across a vacilitating spectrum of negative and positive identifiers. The idea for this project entitled “Smokey and Christine” materialized in early 2022 during a phase where me and my mother experienced an abruption in our communication for 4 months. I learned that while I was taking steps to heal, my mom was losing herself. This caused me to question the ways in which I understood who my mother is.

Through archival and contemporary photographs, I document the deep connection I have with my mom. While the images do not follow a chronological order, they demonstrate a timeline of fluctuating judgements about my mom, beginning in my youth; traced by feelings of nurturance, betrayal, misapprehension, resilience, nostalgia, and vulnerability.

The last two images combine photography and assemblage, presenting a detailed description of my contemporary interpretations of my mom. The various items found in our separate households were intentionally selected to represent specific personality traits, history, or interpersonal connections that help to define my mom’s personality as I understand it.

When her and I weren’t on good terms in early 2022, old feelings of resentment resurfaced and I was determined to work through rather than internalize them. Unpacking these emotions has guided my own mental health journey by understanding how a key figure in my life has an identity and story outside of motherhood. I invite the viewer to examine their own relationships with a parental figure of their choosing and how their perception of them has evolved over the years.