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Parental Leave (2022-)
Parental Leave (2022–) is a meditation on contemporary parenthood as a form of invisible labour.
Bedrooms remain in constant flux, the kitchen hums as the dishwasher constantly rolls, a laundry machine end cycle three-time beep interrupts and echoes as the living room gradually becomes a backdrop for a freshly arranged plethora of objects. The dining table is stained, resembling Jackson Pollock paintings, whilst playing constant catch-up.
Parental Leave is concerned with what happens in between: the transitional moments that connect one event to another and quietly blurred outside of our memory. Putting the kids' shoes on, folding clothes, waiting, carrying, negotiating, and constantly moving from one event to the next. In their repetition, older parents tell you to enjoy these fleeting moments, when in reality all you are trying to do is survive with a decent chunk of sanity left for yourselves. Memory tends to clean up shop quite nicely it seems judging by those older, romanticizing parents. While contemporary parenthood is increasingly accompanied by advice, self-evaluation, and expectations of parental performance, the reality of everyday family life remains difficult to put your finger on it.
And somewhere in all of this, we see ourselves grow along with our kids and begin to clue in to our own parents' experience.
Beginning with the birth of my son Einar and later my daughter Freya, alongside my spouse Alexandra, Parental Leave emerged from the realization that much of family life unfolds outside the moments we choose to remember. The camera gives mundane moments a place to exist, a reminder that much of our lives happen while we wait between the big moments.