I Found A Window In the Wall -2020 Australian Photography Awards Stories Finalist
A long distance collaboration with Australian photographer, Rowena Meadows. After finding two matching 1970s bridesmaid dresses in a local thrift store in Nyack, New York, Mikaela kept one and sent the other to Rowena, in Melbourne. At that point, neither artist realised the introspective self portraits they would inspire, or how essential these characters would become to their lives and friendship.
“The call-and-response portraits made in these dresses are distress signals, as much as they are postcards to a friend. I used to read letters and cards to/from my Mother’s friends. All the unremarkable family news, holiday highlights and home renovation updates must have held other secrets between the lines. What were they really longing to say? Did they ever? Are we our Mothers? And what about our daughters? Will they read between our lines?” -Mikaela
“The past year of visual dialogue between these dresses has allowed me to connect to previously un-storied versions of myself, past and present. There’s been a subtle, tandem shift in conversation from something unsettling and constrained, to something that speaks of expansion, re-imagined freedoms and integration of the competing identities motherhood and domesticity can sometimes mute.” -Rowena
