Rachel Papo: It’s Been Pouring: The Dark Secret of the First Year of Motherhood

Rachel Papo, Steam, Berlin, Germany, 2014

Rachel Papo: It’s Been Pouring: The Dark Secret of the First Year of Motherhood

Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR

Rachel Papo zooms in on the subject of new motherhood, building a portrait of postnatal depression. Some photos are just shots of diary entries, including one that could be a suicide note to a child called Noah. Others stare at household objects on cluttered windowsills, sad houseplants, and barred windows of courtyard apartments. The subject is heavy but the variety of forms – portrait, still life, landscape with fi gure, semi-abstraction – keeps it digestible.

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