My Mother’s Dress

When I started doing Dress Portraits I asked my mum if I could do a portrait of her wedding dress. Her lilac dress is part of the folklore of our family. From Germany, her uncle, who owned a clothes shop, sent three dresses and she picked one.

It was 1972.

My mum is not sentimental at all. Digging up the past is not her thing, even though she often says “this time 42 years ago I was...” and would remember fondly what she was wearing and doing on this day 42 years ago. Her father, my Opa had the same mind.

What she is passionate about is her garden. That is her masterpiece. Her garden is in rural Roscommon, so not that many people see it. She made a flower/ fruit tree/ colour at all times of year/ garden out of a wet and sodden patch in the West of Ireland. And my dad built a Japanese Tea House at the end of it.

In making the Dress Portrait I saw this garden. Every plant. I really saw it. And the birds and the bees. The swallows which nest in the shed. The Gingko tree under which she would like to be buried. The moon gate window of the Japanese Tea House. And the glasses my dad wore at their wedding.

That’s how I got to know my mum better. I took the time to really see what is important to her. I love my mum. How do you pay tribute to the people in your life who are like the soil you are growing in? Now, Dearest Daddy. My next project…!