All images by Amy Herman. Used with permission.
Family dynamics tend to shape our identity and support how we view the world. They can be fun, loving, and oftentimes, messy. Fifteen years ago — still in her mid-twenties — photographer Amy Herman began documenting the relationships within her family, while considering her role within a constantly shifting dynamic.
Relative Intimacy looks at the intricacies of existing within a family unit. How members support each other, socialize, debate, and simply sit together, while also finding moments of solitude within a shared space.
What drew me to Herman wasn’t just the work itself, but the fifteen years between its creation and now. The way we view family, especially our caregivers, can shift profoundly as we age. I wanted to speak with Herman to understand how she feels about the series today, and what impact it has had on her creatively and personally.
I wanted to speak with Herman to understand how she feels about the series today, and what impact it has had on her creatively and personally.
Them Frames: Hey Amy! Relative Intimacy is a project that ended nearly 15 years ago. Looking back at it now, how do you feel about the work?
Amy Herman: 15 years ago 🫠 woof. Okay. I don’t think I had clocked that it has been that long, but in a way, that makes sense – I am not sure we ever really finish with projects. They live on in our brains probably forever. Relative Intimacy is the work I (mostly) completed during grad school.
I am really proud of the work, but I do think it has a sort of grad school stick up its ass? Haha! Maybe that is just my perception in retrospect looking at the project and thinking about how it was made – grad school is a hard, but formative time.
Them Frames: What impact did doing this series have on your relationship with your immediate family?
Amy Herman: This is sort of the opposite of the question that I usually get – ‘how does your relationship with your family inform your work?’ which I think is much more straightforward. Almost all of my work revolves around familial identity and usually asks for at least some participation from family members.
I think they’ve grown used to being asked to perform for the camera. But I am not sure that there is a way to measure the impact the photographs/series have had on my relationships? I have a good relationship with my parents and sometimes we talk about the photographs, but mostly we talk about life and sometimes make photographs together.
Them Frames: A lot of your work, including Relative Intimacy touches on personal identity. I’m curious how doing this type of work has impacted your relationship with yourself; how do you feel about the person you are today?
Amy Herman: I think making work about personal identity inherently comes from having questions about the self. Although I still consider myself largely a self-portrait artist, I think I may be done with the work that directly questions my own identity.
Maybe now that I am over 40, I feel like I know myself? Maybe not. I also recently had a child and maybe know myself less than ever before. Maybe in a few years I’ll turn the camera back inward.
Them Frames: You talk about your role in family dynamics. How has it evolved since the project began to the present day?
Amy Herman: Even when I was making photographs for Relative Intimacy, the family dynamic was shifting. As a (somewhat) young adult, I was reflecting a lot on what it meant to be cared for by parents. But I think I was also very aware that the conditions were changing and I was slowly becoming the carer vs the cared for.
Now the family dynamic has changed entirely, my parents are aging, I am aging, I now have a young daughter. I haven’t made very much work that includes my daughter. I am not sure if I will or not. I don’t ever want her to feel like she wasn’t a willing participant. It definitely complicates the continuation of work in and around the home.
Them Frames: My favorite photograph is of you and your mother. She’s sitting on the bed as you lay in her lap. Can you talk more about this image and what it represents for you?
Amy Herman: mom’s lap. I think this image kind of became the stand alone for the whole project. This image came together so naturally. It is obviously staged but it is based on true events. My mom still plays with my hair to this day to comfort me.
I think the main themes of the photograph are age and beauty, comfort and longing. The heels vs the slippers, the dress vs the robe. My mom hates this photograph. She thinks the sock lines on her legs look really bad, I think they make the photograph.
Them Frames: How do the members of your family involved in the project feel about the work you created?
Amy Herman: I think we’d have to ask them! If it is any indication, my parents do have pieces from this series hanging in their house.
You can see more work from Amy Herman by visiting her website and Instagram.
More reading: Intimacy and Composition: Inside Pixy Liao’s Visual Love Letter
