Morgan Ford Willingham
Morgan Ford Willingham is a photographic artist and educator. She received an MFA in photography with a minor in intermedia from Texas Woman’s University. Morgan has pursued passions in academia and art-making in the Midwest for the past 14 years. Her work explores pop culture, advertising, and societal norms to better understand the influence on women’s identity and self-image, using various mediums, including photography, mixed-media, book arts, and installation. Her work has been widely exhibited, including Humble Arts Gallery in NYC, Filter Photo in Chicago, and Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, OH. She is currently Assistant Professor of Photography at Baylor University in Texas.
Artist Statement
Growing up in the South shaped my personal identity and was a catalyst for rejecting implied standards of womanhood from a young age to questioning the facets of identity I now embody as a mother. This series leads me to consider how instrumental nature versus nurture is in the developing roles of parent and child, the two fluctuating between the observer and the observed. The images allude to familial intimacy and the art historical and cultural influences that shape the context of motherhood, femininity, and women’s identity. When presented collectively, these depictions present visual narratives that attest to selfhood, uncertainty, and parallels that are threaded between the two figures. Extending past the snapshot, these images record the growth of the individual and the deepening intimate connection within the familial unit.
The portraiture provides an outlet for empowerment, vulnerability, control of the gaze, and self-discovery. The choice of materials in my artistic practice grounds these works in the history of women’s craft and of the photographic medium. Photography serves as the foundation from which layers of meaning are imbued through the incorporation of symbolic materials, processes, and imagery. The physical interaction in the creation of each piece provides a ritual outlet and space to meditate on the connection between the artist and the artwork and how each piece embodies a facet of my identity.
At Tusen Takk
My work examines the experiences and shifting identities of mother and child. Due to the multi-stage process of making my photographic-textile collages, I will work on a variety of the different stages, including printing cyanotype imagery, assembling textile collages, and creating new self-portraits while in residence. Along with the collages, I will experiment with installation techniques to further engage viewers with this work.
As I embark on a new project examining representations of women from Ancient and Modern Egypt, I will also experiment with printing these new images in the alternative photo process VanDyke and collaging them.
Instagram: @morganfordwillingham
