In-Passing’ began in 2015, the year Lisa became a mother to her first child and then shortly after suffered the loss of her own mother to illness. At first, it provided a therapeutic outlet for a new reality that didn’t feel like her own.

Two new identities, mother and motherless.

These events provide the inception for what has since become a long-running commentary, a visceral account of the chaos and intimacy of the familial space during her children’s formative years. Heavily saturated by the unravelling departure from the identity of who she once was and the metamorphosis of self that becoming a mother sets in motion in both body and mind, a historically unobserved and acknowledged transformation.

Arranged non-sequentially this narrative skews time and swells back and forth from the more readily observed challenges and experiences of new motherhood and into the now enduring role that will define much of the rest of her life.

With references to mortality and renewal, each image tells of a particular stage in the cycle of her children's development and their relationship, reflecting the complexities, intimacy and emotional landscapes within the mother-child universe.


How long does a mother ‘carry’ a child?
As early as the second week of pregnancy there is a two-way transference of cells and DNA between the fetus and the mother. Cells containing DNA cross the placenta and enter into the mothers’ bloodstream, embedding in various organs including the heart, brain and lungs, where evidence has shown that they can remain for decades.
This phenomenon is called microchimerism, from the word ‘chimera’, referring to a mythical creature made up of the parts of different animals.

Mother, as chimera.