Words and Images by Adrianna Ault

Photo Edited by Kelly Woodyard

How did this project come to be?

I'm not sure if you want the long answer or the short one.

The short answer is that my mother died after a 4-year battle with cancer. The long answer is that when she died I was 3 months away from completing my MFA. I had been photographing throughout the years up until then of my personal life. However, in grad school, I had been focusing on other projects mainly as visual studies around the photobook. Which entailed more playful experiments to find my creative voice. After she passed away, I needed to choose to either take a break and come back to complete my MFA or just dive deep into making something. I chose to make something.

Were there any challenges that came up while working on this project?

Covid happened, and then grief set in. Of course, these weren't the only challenges. But making this book took 5 years when it could have probably happened in 3. In the end, that was an advantage because it meant that I kept making work about it and the process kept evolving. It needed time and I needed time. I'm a single mother of two daughters who were in middle school and high school during COVID. They needed me and that became part of the book.

Adrianna Ault, *McKenna Piano,* 2017-2021

Describe your creative process in one word.

I need a thesaurus or google to help me come up with just one word for my creative process. But that feels like cheating. So I'm gonna hyphenate two words: messy-obsessiveness.

What inspires you to pursue image-making?

I am stuck in a yearning to see beyond what is visible.

What was the last book you read or film you saw that inspired you?

Film: All of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh.

Book: All About Love by Bell Hooks

What advice would you give to people just starting out in photography?

Let yourself love what you love and don't worry about whether something is "good" or not. Learning from what you make, is what makes you good. Comparing is disparing. Believe that you will make terrible work so that you can make something good.