Gail Albert Halaban photographs communities of mothers. Like an anthropologist, she portrays the private lives of these women as they journey from single life through motherhood. At first glance, they seem to have everything – education, elegance, wealth, and family. Yet for these women, such advantages are not without conflict. They must weigh having children with the desire to maintain an identity as it was prior to entering this stage of motherhood. Gail Albert Halaban’s satiric yet compassionate images illuminate their struggle to balance their children’s need for an emotionally available mother with their own inclination to hold onto the independence of youth.

Although the photographs in This Stage of Motherhood seem to be spontaneously captured, they are in fact intricate tableaux created by the artist within the homes of the women she photographs. This theatricality grants Gail Albert Halaban intimate access to the emotional lives of her subjects.