Missing, from the series Life's Lessons
Bea Nettles, Missing, from the series Life's Lessons, 1986, gelatin silver print, Gift of the Artist, © Bea Nettles, 2011.74.50
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Missing, from the series Life's Lessons
- Related Titles
original language: Missing
series (original language): Life's Lessons
- Artist
- Date
1986
- Medium
gelatin silver print
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
image: 19 1/16 in x 23 3/16 in; sheet: 19 7/8 in x 23 15/16 in
- Collection Area
Photography
- Category
Photographs
- Object Type
photograph
- Culture
American
- Credit Line
Gift of the Artist
- Accession Number
2011.74.50
- Copyright
© Bea Nettles
- Terms
Children and motherhood are central themes of Bea Nettles’s mature work. In 1986 she completed the series Life’s Lessons, which was inspired in part by her children’s fears of being taken by strangers. During the 1980s, the National Child Safety Council placed photographs of missing children on milk cartons, which spurred breakfast-time conversations between Nettles and her daughter, Rachel. Although these milk-carton portraits caused anxiety, the updated status of one missing child marked “found” became a source of joy for Rachel. Nettles captured the unsettling nature of the campaign in this photograph of multiple milk cartons, underscoring the number of missing youth, while the quick removal of one carton mirrors the sudden loss of the children depicted there.
- Exhibitions
2012 Emerging: New Photography Acquisitions Portland Art Museum