I have captured the experience of mothers that go through empty nest syndrome, which refers to the grief that many parents feel when their children move out of the home and is common in women, who are still more likely to assume the role of primary caregiver.

Influential artists such as Bill Viola inspired me through his use of colour and water to communicate his all-consuming messages about society.

I have sought to enhance the nostalgia. What was lost from the now “Empty-Nest” after the daughter moves out. Art represented through monochrome colour grading and jump-cut editing, enabling the audience to experience the Mother’s beautiful “flashback” journey through life with her daughter from infant to adult. The symbolic use of water to display the ripples in the changing journey.

Frequently women with children are portrayed only as caregivers, their primary role in life to be motherhood, enhancing feelings of emptiness once children move out. I wanted to show the Mother discovering the new potential in her life as an independent woman, embracing her new life as an individual, not defined by her role as a mother.