Maureen Light Photography

There has been quite a bit of debate over the meaning of this photo. Is it a political, social, or a moral statement? Is it full of symbolism? I absolutely love hearing how others interpret my work (the beauty of art), they usually pull way more meaning out of an image then what I initially intended. This young lady is a friend of my oldest daughter Libby. They are both extremely creative souls on their own so when they get together life gets interesting. Lately they have been obsessed with making short films and asked me for a ride to the local dollar store for some props. Upon their return I twisted around in my seat to see what was purchased. Twizzlers? Silly string? Funny glasses with the nose attached?....No, none of these, but instead a beautiful bouquet of 10 identical bald babies. "What the heck?", you say. Yeah so did I. I wouldn't have thought much of the purchase of just one, but anything it great quantity can kind of be a bit disturbing. (Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds) As I stared longer into the backseat at this child holding this great mass of children an image for a new photo started forming in my head. What other's have said....

• "I am sure that every person will see it based on their culture, background, and past experiences. To me, this image symbolizes the plenty in the midst of poverty. I grew up in a part of the world where most kids could not afford one toy (including myself). And if they did, they had to share it with other kids. For a kid to walk out of a store with several dolls (regardless how relatively cheap the price was) is still a dichotomy. I watched 'slumdog millionaire' movie yesterday, and it is worth seeing, as it touches on the same subject. Now, for someone who grew up watching Hollywood movies, their perspective may be totally different. This image does not scare me at all, in fact, it makes me feel more compassionate. This is the beauty of the art of photography (and art in general) as it take each one of us to different worlds as our eyes wander around the image we examine and our minds wander in our deep conscious and in old memories."

• "I see it as a statement about the woman who recently had octuplets. Or, to paraphrase William Blake: The path of excess leads to the tower of wisdom."

• "Each doll looks exactly the same, and with that slightly worried "errm i need a little help here" expression on the girl's face, it could also be a comment of the demands of bringing up one child... like it could be a birth control advert maybe :)"

• "I get a mixture of thought with this shot. The poverty sign, the stressed & anxiety of motherhood, the recent events with that 22 year old, living off the state with 15 kids now and the birth control side of it. I can relate, 2 seems like 10 sometimes!

My interpretation, (if I had not taken the photo, since there was no forethought of symbolism beforehand) would be that it's of a young lady looking towards adulthood and her future, yet still clinging to childhood. I think her eyes look a bit sorrowful and nervous...and the way see clings to the dolls, almost like a scared child hugs her knees. The ponytail holder out of her hair and on her wrist and the chipped blue finger nail polish could also go along with it.