My mother, Rita Stein-Grollman, passed away on January 24th, 2023 from early onset of dementia. Her passing has dramatically changed how I view the world, and make art. Before she got sick, my mom was a great librarian with a huge love for her students and an amazing poet. My dad was her caretaker as she started to slip away, and I was a bratty teen, who didn’t know how to process any of this. Now that I am older, this project is one of my ways of processing. I have made all these images as a tribute to her, but also to keep her alive. I returned to our old home in Baltimore, where I spent time with her as a child, and traced her upbringing. I visited her old school, her old neighborhood, and explored Baltimore to learn more about her. In New York, which is where I primarily grew up with my parents, I photographed myself, my father, and our apartment to understand the different ways in which we experience grief. Finally, I looked outward, into nature, to find myself in the trees and find her in the water.

This experience has been healing, but my grieving will not end. Guardian Angels is for my mother, and others that I have lost who I know are looking down on me.