Senior Living: Living with Mom

Photo essay by Edie Karras

Introducing Edie Karras and Peggy McKenna’s family, including their son, Galen, and Peggy’s mother, Betty McKenna. In Edie’s words:

“Two and a half years ago my partner and I decided to move her mother into our home to live out her remaining years. We never thought ‘easy,’ but neither did we realize the complete and profound impact this would have on our daily lives. Throw in a 7-year-old son and a partner entering grad school (yet still working full time) and you might get a sense.  While my world shrank, my photography–blessedly–grew in ways I never expected. The work became extremely localized: my house, my yard, my street (seriously, sometimes I’m stuck in a 2-mile radius for weeks). Other impacts included the purchase of iPhones and joining the milieu of social media.  My mother-in-law is now 85 and frail but continues to enrich all of our lives. She’ll never fully realize how her presence affects me as an artist and I thank her many times over.”

Edie and her family live in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of Minneapolis.  Her full photography collection spans 20 years and includes abstract textures and close-ups as well as more traditional subjects like nature, people, animals, the neighborhood, and much more.  The family’s four-legged members, Samba (dog) and Sprite (cat) make plenty of appearances in the life that is lived in that “2-mile radius.” Edie’s photography can be found at www.etsy.com/shop/photosbyedie as well as at Finch’s Holiday Boutique in Minnetonka December 8 & 9 (finchsboutique.blogspot.com) and the Women’s Art Festival at the Midtown YWCA on December 15 (www.womensartfestival.com). -Andy Lien