Photographers capture artist and mother in garden — SkimNews
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- Rona Bar and Ofek Avshalom photographed performance artist Lois and her mother Carey in their garden, a scene that evolved into a multi-year project titled Lois and Carey after the initial image resonated deeply with their themes of identity and heritage.
- Lois and Carey welcomed the photographers into their home for two years, allowing unrestricted access as Bar and Avshalom documented their lives, art-filled environment, and unique familial bond, which includes shared nudity and Lois tattooing her mother.
- Fotómetro — the artistic duo of Bar and Avshalom — used the encounter to pivot from their earlier series Proof of Existence, shifting focus entirely to the mother-daughter pair, whose relationship embodies the interplay between personal history, Jewish identity, and artistic expression.
- The garden photograph stages Lois naked among plants while her mother waters them, symbolizing the emotional truth of their coexistence and turning ordinary acts into layered, absurdist tableaux that reflect their unconventional way of life.
- Lois and Carey express their Judaism in non-traditional ways — Lois through performance art involving sexuality, queerness, and fetish aesthetics, including wearing a Star of David-emblazoned latex suit in another striking kitchen portrait.
- Fotómetro has been selected for the 2024 Taylor Wessing Photography Prize at the National Portrait Gallery, with Lois and Carey in the Garden chosen for exhibition, following prior recognition including the Eve Arnold Photography Prize in 2025.
Why it matters: The project elevates intimate, marginalized expressions of identity and kinship into fine art spaces like the National Portrait Gallery, where unconventional Jewishness, queer performance, and maternal bonds are rarely centered. The sustained collaboration turned subjects into muses, shifting Fotómetro’s trajectory and affirming deeply personal storytelling as a legitimate artistic force.
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