Lisa Spencer
MFA ’26 Photography
As my children reach the age of independence, I wonder if I’ve been a “good enough” mother. Have my presence and attention been enough to break the cycle of dysfunctional family relationships? How do I find a balance between ceding control and keeping my children safe? I turn to photography as a means of examining and acknowledging these questions, probing a psychological landscape where anxiety and tenderness coexist.
Through a combination of present-day photographs and archival family imagery, the work draws parallels between lived experience and inherited patterns. By placing contemporary images in dialogue with the past, I search for evidence of attunement– moments of mutual recognition and care– while tracing subtler histories of absence and emotional rupture.
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Lisa Spencer (b. 1987) is a photographer based in Winchester, MA. She holds a BS in Forest Science from Penn State University (2009) and served in the US Peace Corps in Mozambique as an education volunteer (2011-2013). Her work has been exhibited at the John Waldron Arts Center (Bloomington, IN), Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, and the Griffin Museum of Photography. She is a mother to three children and proud winner of the Kennolyn Camp “Best Camp Counselor 2011” award (for which she received a monogrammed hoodie).
