The Birth of Venus

Between 1998 and 1999 I made a small series of photographs of my daughters’ artworks along with their toys and the constructions made from them. At the time Lena and Natalie were seven and five years old, and the series began with a wonderful drawing my daughter Lena made when she copied Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. The girls often created environments in which their play took place and included toy animals. I’m still amazed by the creative life they were already living at such a young age.

At the time I wrote:

We work all the time in our home studio, but the kids don’t want to be “professionals.” They probably inspire us more than the other way around. Their art is made spontaneously for pleasure or amusement and is to be shared or given away. That reminds us that the process is not based on commodity, but has greater value as a gift or an act of discovery.

Today both daughters carry their creativity into adult life as they have become trained artists. They still inspire their parents and give us their art.

This work was published in the book Photographers, Writers, and the American Scene. Visions of Passage. James L. Enyeart. Arena, 2002