Emily Schiffer

Photographer

www.emilyschiffer.com

Lit Hub: What We Want You to Know About Mothering Small Children in a Pandemic

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School: University of Michigan Stamps School of Art and Design , MFA 2016 University of Pennsylvania, BA cum laude, 2003 in Fine Art and African American Studies

Lit Hub: What We Want You to Know About Mothering Small Children in a Pandemic

April 1, 2020 : Lola is willin...orksheet if I sit in her fort.

April 1, 2020: Lola is willing to do a school worksheet if I sit in her fort.

April 2, 2020 : After bickerin...about anything that sparks joy.

April 2, 2020: After bickering over schoolwork neither of us wants to do, Lola releases pent up energy. Ambulance sirens blare outside. They have been non-stop for weeks. I am grappling with the instability and anxiety these days hold, and decide in this moment to forgo phonics and math in favor of just about anything that sparks joy.

April 27, 2020 : One more day ...ry and I urgently need to work.

April 27, 2020: One more day in the living room. I attempt to include myself in these photographs. Another day is passing and Thierry and I urgently need to work.

October 31, 2020 : After a lon...he adults look on and sip wine.

October 31, 2020: After a long evening of trick or treating on our block, the kids warm themselves at Sam and Micaela’s outdoor heater. The adults look on and sip wine.

April 7, 2020 : The children a...ally, emotionally, financially.

April 7, 2020: The children amuse themselves while Thierry does the dishes. I drink coffee and think about the social impact of the virus flattening people physically, emotionally, financially.

May 5, 2020 : When I was littl...urn her hair into a waterfall.

May 5, 2020: When I was little my grandmother would lay me across her kitchen counter to wash my hair. It was special. Today we need special. I clear off the counter, and it works. Lola says sink-washes turn her hair into a waterfall.

July 5, 2020 : Having always k...ing used to disappointing them.

July 5, 2020: Having always known he wanted to be a father, Thierry’s parenthood is filled with a lifetime of anticipation. His calm and gentle demeanor has kept our family rooted through the uncertainty of this time. But the threat of the virus also awakened us to how easily life can unravel. Protective of our inner world, we take fewer risks than our friends and neighbors. We are getting used to disappointing them.

March 12, 2021 : Lola&rsqu...ungry as they are for answers.

March 12, 2021: Lola’s questions often surface at bedtime. She wants to know why. Why do people hate? How and when did racism start? Did it start with one person? How did it spread? Did anyone at the beginning try to stop it? Why couldn’t they stop it? Why? I answer honestly. She is a child, so I follow her lead—allowing her to interrupt with thoughts about slime or plans to build a birdhouse with the recycling. She asks if we are safe, if interracial marriage could become illegal again, and whether we have a plan if it does. Shortly after George Floyd’s murder, Lola and her best friend decided to “do an NPR piece” asking adults about racism. They want so badly to understand. When they hit the block with their recorders, they found adults as hungry as they are for answers.

July 9, 2020 : Julian is one t... my phone ends up waterlogged.

July 9, 2020: Julian is one today and we’re celebrating fiercely with a unicorn pool and bubbles. Léa, Régine and Kyra join us via FaceTime and my phone ends up waterlogged.

May 14, 2020 : Lola’...y grandfather’s loss.

May 14, 2020: Lola’s best friend Léa, who lives down the block, turned nine today. Today I also learned that my 96-year-old grandfather passed away from Covid-19 complications. Léa has been giving Lola piano lessons via Zoom, so we brought the keyboard to Léa’s stoop and Lola gave a birthday performance. The girls’ sweetness and resilience strike me particularly hard today as I navigate the grief and anger of my grandfather’s loss.

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Lit Hub: What We Want You to Know About Mothering Small Children in a Pandemic

Copyright Emily Schiffer 2024

Updated Apr 2021

Topics Children, Documentary, Epidemics, Family, Photography, Photojournalism, Portraiture

The Longest Year: 2020+ is a collection of visual and written essays on 2020, a pivotal year that shifted our way of experiencing the world. In most publications, images work in service to words—here they work in tandem. // In part three of the series, Emily Raboteau and Emily Schiffer reflect on this long year of pandemic parenting, in text and photographs.

Edited by Elizabeth Krist

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