To the Ends of the Earth

The photographs in To the Ends of The Earth span 12-years and depict the underrepresented and often unseen dynamics of the relationships between a lesbian, her straight mother, and her girlfriend. Jeanette Spicer initially began the project in 2012 when working towards her thesis and was interested in the boundaries and rules--particularly from a western perspective--of the interactions between children and their adult parents. She began to stage photographs and videos interacting with her mother in strange, intimate, disturbing and sometimes humoros ways. A few years later, it became clear to her that she was a lesbian, inspiring her to make the work from another perspective. Spicer felt that visual representations of lesbians interacting with straight parents were missing and she wanted to show what this relationship could look like.

Jeanette Spicer is an American visual artist who creates performative videos, photographs, and mixed media. She received her MFA from Parsons The New School in 2013 and has attended Vermont Studio Center, The Wassaic Project, and Benaco Arte in Italy, amongst other residencies. Her first monograph, Sea(see) was published in 2018 by Kris Graves Projects. Her work has been exhibited internationally and published in outlets including The New York Times, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, and Vogue. Spicer is co-editor of WMN a publication showcasing art and poetry by marginalised communities of lesbians. She currently teaches at The International Center of Photography.