Olivia Gatti left her career as a Boston-area photojournalist to have children and raise a family but realized she missed photography. Moreover, she needed a moment of “creative control” in her daily life of motherhood. A self-described “collector of memories,” she began documenting her family’s life—the moments between the moments, the experiences that slip away and the “beauty in the ordinary.”
Olivia Gatti at TastySpace
Highlights from the resulting work are featured in The Motherlode, now up at TastySpace Gallery, where Gatti pairs together images of life as a mother to create universal stories of family and childhood.
It’s the first such exhibit for Gatti, who now works as a professional photographer, capturing other families in their daily lives. “My success comes in my honesty and my vulnerability,” she says about the stories that result in the photographic narratives. “But I want to be genuine. In being a family photographer, I want to tell a story for you.”
In The Motherlode, the story is hers. Here, a photograph of the pregnancy test for her third child is paired with an image taken with her and the baby in the bathtub. Another diptych shows the back of a child gazing into the sky and taking in the vastness of the day, in one image. A doll, stripped of her clothing and set aside in the grass, is portrayed in the other, representing the essence of childhood, the freedom of nature and a moment left behind.
The Motherlode Through November 30, call for hours. TastySpace Gallery, 617-513-7336. Opening reception November 15, 7-9 p.m.
