In 2013 our family experienced a severe medical trauma with one of our children. In the wake of the trauma, our world was turned upside down. We had to learn to live with the possibility that this might happen again, and we were constantly on the edge. I slowly started to develop a raging anxiety for my children becoming ill or injured.
This body of work is a series of portraits that conveys the fears and the worst possible scenarios my mind created in my darkest moments. The images are surreal and vague, like a glimpse into my racing, illogical thoughts. The model in the images is my son, which makes the work honest and personal.
I finished this work right before the pandemic started. In one of the images the model wears a face mask. Little did I know that wearing a face mask in public would be the new normal, and that one of my biggest fears would become reality just a few months later.
Maren Klemp
Instagram: @marenklempphotography
