Cara Mand is a documentary-style analogue photographer living and creating on Boonwurrung land (Melbourne), Australia. Mother to two, Cara is deep in the season of motherhood, living within the dichotomy of both fragility and tenacity.
Cara has spent many years working with women, children and families in the field of bioethics, often witnessing people in their most vulnerable moments. Much like pregnancy and postpartum she was drawn to the rawness of human emotion, physical being and spiritual transitions, using the camera as a vessel to help capture these sacred times.
Motherhood is the undeniable undercurrent to all her work and painstakingly nostalgic. Cara believes that photographs are artefacts, evidence of human life, that have the potential to be cherished for generations.
Her artistry works alongside her subjects, a collaboration. Capturing the way they hold themselves, the way they hold their children, the way they gaze, the way they touch. The finest details, those in between moments.
“Photographs act as mirrors, they can reflect the relationships with ourselves and our connections to others. I am forever trying to examine these evolving roles and connections, and capturing moments before they fall into the diffuse blur of memory. This season in particular is messy, it lacks control but it’s more beautiful than any words you’ll ever read. I want to capture how our bodies change and how our children grow, the momentum of days and the lag of an hour.”
I pay deep and ongoing respect to the Wurundjeri people who are the traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work. I acknowledge their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. I pay my respects to their Elders and all Kulin nation people past and present.
