Little Sufferings

Abstract

Relationships with mothers and daughters are fraught. I know this. “Little Sufferings” is a collection of short, somewhat repetitive personal essays written under seven themes—Faith, Femininity, Family, Vigilance, Body, Self, and Competence. It includes photographs of my mother throughout her life, though primarily in adolescence, as well as one of myself and my sisters. This project was discovered primarily in discussion with my sisters, discussions we’ve been having all our lives about our mother and the little— sometimes big— things about her, her personality and self-presentation, that just drive us bananas.