Artist Annie Seaton is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the series ‘Miss You Now, Maine’. To see Annie’s body of work, click on any image.

Miss You Now Project / Love in the time of Covid

I am a mixed media artist and a single working mother. My new project, Miss You Now, is titled after a song written by my daughter. This project originated in Maine at a photography workshop a good friend hosted on the healing power of photography. My kids had both just left for college and I signed up as the perfect foil to distract myself. I listened to her lyrics and contemplated my new status as a Mom with grown kids. This project, Miss You Now, started out as me facing my children’s transition to adulthood, and “leaving the nest.”

The idea was to tell my story, a love letter to my kids and our two decades together but also my enchantment with Maine. This project is nostalgic and fresh. It is verdant and it is venerable. It is about joy, it is about childhood and motherhood and bravely facing this transition through images of green algae, crisp fall apples, faded vintage toys and radiant blue waters. My physical art is also about the long tradition of women’s work processes, enhancing my images with hand-sewing, dyeing, and quilt making.

And then Covid hit us all last Spring, mid-year and mid-project. How was I to work on an empty nest project and loneliness when suddenly our house was filled again and we were all in each other’s faces? I bounced around from depression to gratitude. I took up sewing at my dining table, embroidering new panels in greater detail. It was fun, beautiful and a distraction. My daughter helped me select the colors and suggested different details for me to sew. It became a natural collaboration of sorts. So what started out as a project mourning the loss of motherhood came full circle during this pandemic, the two of us, co-conspirators. Inspiring a new joy and another transition.