International Writers Inspiring Change featured book: Mother's Prayer - Prière de la Mère
A narrative told largely through tableau photos spanning two decades, Mother's Prayer is an inspiring story about a strong woman who raised her family as a single parent when the world, and circumstances, were conspiring against her. There was no community to help or console her, so she turned to prayer and faith. It is a celebration of an unsung hero who selflessly sacrificed everything and survived to tell the story.
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About the author
1. What inspired you to write?
Circumstance. My Mom was approaching her 80th birthday and I wanted to do something special for her. First, I created a photo exhibition, then wrote the captions that formed a prayer.
2. Who or what most inspired you in life?
My mother has been inspiration because she loves photography. She also is a very creative and expressive woman. When we were growing up, she always encouraged my sisters and me to be creative and express ourselves. We all took Polish folk dancing for many years.
I remember there was a contest for a jam company. Creative marketing – they asked the public to send in pictures using their product. Naturally my Mom got us to brainstorm and come up
with a concept that she photographed and submitted. We never got our
free jar of jam.
Most significantly it is the fact my mother was always photographing and documenting the family. Then my father died. I was 14. Eventually, I took photography in college. The camera helped me to explore grief and the theme of death. I began to writing the scripts for the pictures I was creating, turning them into photo essays.
Like my mother, I began to document and take pictures, but also began to write the script for the
pictures I was to create and turn into photo essays.
When I came back home from Vancouver, I documented moments while we worked in the country. At one point I went back to school to complete a Commercial Photography program. Up till this
point I only used film and a simple camera. When I was learning advanced lighting techniques and had assignments I needed a model. Mom was both model, assistant and editor. I included her in on the process and it became our common ground. Together we explored
metal landscapes, portraits, advertising concepts in the form of tableau photography. Some of the images in the book are my twisted versions for ads. At the end of the program I graduated with honours and became a medical photographer at a major hospital.
3. What do you hope to inspire with your writing?
Faith, unity, and strength.
We are living in very challenging and stressful times. We need each other and we need faith in the future. Mother’s Prayer is Hope for Hard Times. Life is hard and many of us are living through these dark times. Shadows can become overwhelming. The darkness can seem eternal, but its not. Eventually the sun rises and the world looks very different in the light. This particular story focuses on a strong woman who raised her family as a single parent when the world, and circumstances, were conspiring against her. There was no community to help or console, so she turned to prayer and faith. I want to inspire and celebrate all single parents, the unsung hero’s that selflessly sacrificed everything and somehow survive to save us.
I hope Mother’s Prayer inspires unity and cooperation. I am a Polish - Ukrainian Canadian, living in a French province that talks about separation - in a country where the western province of Alberta also wants to break apart from our country. I hope to show our resilient national and international character. We are stronger than we think, but we all need to work together, especially when outside forces try to reduce us to nothing. Mother’s Prayer is about working with the tools we have and rebuilding. I want people to tap into their strength to continue. If an 86 year - old woman can do it so can you. Have faith and a sense of humour.
4. What is the backstory to your book? How did it come about?
Initially, the series of photos in Mother’s Prayer were organized into an exhibition: a tribute to celebrate my mother’s 80th birthday. My mother was passionate about documenting our family
when we were growing up. This was a big influence for me, so documenting her daily life and struggle was natural. This story evolved over 20 years and was a mixture of documentary and staged tableau photos. As I looked through the photos the visual narrative began to expand. With that the words began to surface in the form of a prayer. Photography and poetry are very closely connected to my projects.
5. When will your book be published?
The book is currently available and people can request it at their local book stores. It is available through IngramSpark and their global distribution system. It’s in the system so libraries should be able to order it as well.
6. What’s the story behind this cover?
The 2 photos on the cover front and back are essentially the bookends for the whole story. The back cover photo of my mother kneeling in prayer with a blanket draped over her head is essentially her asking her creator for the strength to endure the hardships, emotional,
psychological, and financial. This was one of the psychological landscapes my mother and I explored. The blanket, which looks like a religious veil, is in fact the very blanket she was given by a social worker when she was being a boarder at the convent at the age of eight years
old. There was was an incident where she was falsely accused of writing on the walls, all because she was given permission to go to the bathroom and the crime scene was in close proximity. She was forced to kneel beside the nun who was her teacher. Together they had to pray
to tell the truth and ask for forgiveness. In this way a confession was coaxed. To this day, my mother regrets having admitted to something she did not do.
The front cover photo has Mother cradling a 20 gauge bolt action shotgun, a musket by today’s standards. Some people are shocked by this picture. What they fail to recognize is the type of firearm it is and the context of life in the country. This is the turning point of the story, when she
takes control and asserts herself and defends her family. Here, we were exploring 2 psychological concepts during the shoot. One was hunting and the rite of passage into manhood. My father had promised to take me hunting when I turned 15; however, he died before this could happen. That year both my mom and I took the firearms safety course, and the following year she took me deer hunting for the first time.
The 2nd concept revolved around something my mother had said to a landowner who was trying to take advantage of a situation. Shortly after my father had died we learned the country house was not on our property. The landowner was asking for a ridiculous amount of money to make the house legal, she would have to either move the house or demolish it. To this my mother responded, “you’re not going to take the food out of my children’s mouths.”
It’s very interesting how many women really relate to the cover photo. They see a strong, independent woman who is a defender. Others, including some priests, are alarmed. Perhaps because they are used to seeing a submissive Mother Mary praying on her knees. It makes me wonder what would Mary be like if she was a single mother and had no husband? In the church we see Jesus crucified, we see Saint Michael with a sword … but, where are the bad girls of the bible? I guess this is why I love Monty Python’s Life of Brian so much. You have a real flesh and blood mother. It makes me think what if Joseph died and Mary was a single mother and had to raise Jesus alone? Would she not have a rougher, more real edge? Protecting and defending her family? … here’s to Brian’s Mother!
7. Are there any contemporary artists that inspire you?
Absolutely. But I will mention for me contemporary is an ongoing conversation with those long dead. For example the music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Berlioz all sooth my soul so I can create. I would say comedy is the most powerful influence for all my work. I have my own warped sense of humour. George Carlin, Robin Williams, and especially Monty Python - The Life of Brian. In fact, Mother’s Prayer might be a more serious, in-depth portrayal of Brian’s mother.
As far as writers go; Tom Robbins, Raymond Carver and Haruki Murakami.
The most influential photographers in my life are Diane Arbus (for the psychological depth and connection with her subjects), Lewis Hine (for documenting child labour, justice and social change), Nan Goldin (for showing us real life and struggle).
So for me it all comes together: music to sooth the wounds of consciousness, writers who create fantastic worlds, photographers that put a face on those struggling, and comedy to filter and transform the story into something that can be serious and funny.
8. What is your creative process?
I am like a perpetual tourist, capturing incidents, interactions, and noting absurd social constructs. I combine photography with my writing. Usually, a word or a phrase will come to mind, and that
becomes the seed that grows into a poem, scene, or conceptual photo. I wait patiently, and eventually the story or collection of poems take shape and present themselves. In the case of Mother’s Prayer I started documenting in 2005, its now 2026! The good news is my garden of
projects is growing very well. Stay tuned for many more projects.
Visit the author's website HERE
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