Afternoon Tea

20 X 24 inch silver gelatin print, selenium toned.

Crabtree 2000

This is about my own childhood and those vague early memories of my mother and her world of women. Small children may be loved and cherished but they are totally dependent, vulnerable, have no power and can seldom get anyone to listen to them. I have always wondered how much we are shaped by those early years of learning good manners and being generally civilised by women. Why do so many men grow up fearing and hating women? Where does all the violence, materialism and destruction come from? What went wrong?

The models are Hiroko (also in the Pillowbook series) and her son Jungo as well as my neighbour Kaye who supplied the house and the afternoon tea.