--- description: Elinor Carucci's third monograph, published by Prestel, starts with the pregnancy of her twins and concludes when they are eight – a moment when the photographer saw a growing independence blossoming in her children. title: The Most Intimate Dance: Elinor Carucci's Photos of Motherhood image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c94998e51f52cd7/6987a767524fc01d0edef4ab/iam_00036311_resized.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Most Intimate Dance: Elinor Carucci's Photos of Motherhood by [Susan Bright](/author/susan-bright/) ## Susan Bright Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 30, 2013 8:00 AM CUT  Induced, 2004 Induced, 2004Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE by [Susan Bright](/author/susan-bright/) ## Susan Bright Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 30, 2013 8:00 AM CUT This project, the third monograph by Elinor Carucci, follows a logical trajectory from her earlier work. _Closer_ (2002), chronicled her tumultuous relationship with her husband and parents through incidences of infidelity (hers), too much dope (her husband’s) and her parents fractious relationship and eventual divorce. The mood was gentle, though, with plenty of high notes; the everyday ebb and flow of relationships were lovingly and lavishly documented, while the larger narratives played out in the background. _Diary of a Dancer_ (2008) changed direction slightly and concentrated on Carrucci’s life as a professional Middle Eastern dancer, acting as the hired entertainment for weddings and Bar Mitzvahsaround the five boroughs of New York. It showed the loneliness, physicality and endurance of endless subway rides and blistered feet between the sparkle and exoticism of her performances. _Mother_ shifts gear again. It starts with her pregnant with twins and concludes when they are 8 years old – a moment when Caruccci saw a change and a growing independence in her children. The intimacy and sensuality for which she has become so well known is amplified and, as she says in her introduction, she has never _seen_ so much as she does as a mother. Her gaze has certainly become more intense, and her actions stronger, as she hugs, dresses, holds, licks, pulls, feeds, caresses and cares for her children. The little-discussed eroticism that so often exists between mother and child is played out honestly and easily – a beautiful, fluid link between generations. As with Carucci’s other work, the everyday is the focus of and propulsive force behind the book, as multiple layers of reality unfold in her concentration on detail. Meals, parties, subway journeys, daydreams, fights — they’re all chronicled here. But the book is also an exploration of national identity and how having children in a different country from your own makes one look at that country more acutely. It makes an immigrant _engage_ in one’s adopted home in a way that was easy to avoid before. Both _Closer_ and _Diary of a Dancer_ were their best when the photos were indoors and intimate, but led by her children Carucci is forced out of doors, to the streets, playgrounds and school. It opens her up to document life in the city, meaning that in some elemental ways, the book is as much about New York as it is about her family. There are photos made in McDonald’s, and outside Duane Reade. Resolutely American holidays like Halloween and quintessentially New York giant pretzels from street vendors feature in a way that would have been unimaginable in her earlier work. Her children are American; she has lived in New York for nearly 20 years (she emigrated from Israel), and the differences between the two cultures are implicitly infuse the pictures. Photographically, having children allows her to look at the city afresh and her wonderment and pleasure in photographing is palpable. The sidewalks and subway stations are places where emotions are expressed just as openly as behind closed doors – something one has to very quickly get used to as a parent in New York. In this, Carucci continues to do what she does best: namely, dealing seamlessly with the collapse of private and public space. In his 2005 novel, _Saturday_, Ian McEwan writes beautifully about the inevitable letting go that parents must enact as children grow older and more independent. The book’s narrator, a middle-aged neurosurgeon, feels that wrenching sense of loss as he watches his son’s fingers slipping through his own as his son walks up a flight of stairs, away from his father. Carucci captures much of that same profound, inevitable sense of loss in her photographs. But in _Mother_, rather than dwelling on melancholy, the images celebrate the connection between twin brother and sister, and a mother’s attempts to see, feel and express her enduring relationship with her children. --- [**_Elinor Carucci_**](http://www.elinorcarucci.com/ "undefined") _is an Israeli-American photographer based in New York. Her third monograph,_ Mother_, is_ [_available through Prestel_](http://www.randomhouse.de/book/Elinor-Carucci-Mother/e430824.rhd?pub=58500 "undefined")_. LightBox previously profiled Carucci’s earlier work_ [_here_](http://lightbox.time.com/2011/09/16/pregnancy-birth-and-motherhood-born-by-elinor-carucci/#1 "undefined")_._ [**_Susan Bright_**](http://susanbright.net/ "undefined") _is a New York-based writer and curator. Her upcoming book,_ [Home Truths: Photography and Motherhood](http://susanbright.net/Home-Truths-Photography-and-Motherhood "undefined")_, is available through Art/Books from November 30, 2013._ _Bright previously wrote for LightBox about her favorite_ [_photographers turned music-video directors_](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/10/09/photographers-turned-directors-susan-brights-favorites-on-moca-tv/#1 "undefined")_._ ---  Induced, 2004 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  Holding Eden for the first time, 2004 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  The first week, 2004 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  Bath, 2006 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  Bruised mouth, 2007 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  Father and daughter, 2009 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  My guilt, 2010 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  Smile, 2012 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  Cutting off father’s beard, 2012 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  Kissing my son, 2007 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  Monday morning, mother of two 2010 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  We will never speak to each other ever again, 2010 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  Brushing hair, 2010 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  The roles, 2012 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  Love, 2011 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  Holding Emmanuelle, 2008 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  Mother’s love, 2012 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE  My empty belly, 2012 Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE The Most Intimate Dance: Elinor Carucci's Photos of Motherhood ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3802764/the-most-intimate-dance-elinor-caruccis-photos-of-motherhood/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3802764/the-most-intimate-dance-elinor-caruccis-photos-of-motherhood/"},"headline":"The Most Intimate Dance: Elinor Carucci's Photos of Motherhood","datePublished":"2013-09-30T08:00:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:40:40.538Z","description":"Elinor Carucci's third monograph, published by Prestel, starts with the pregnancy of her twins and concludes when they are eight – a moment when the photographer saw a growing independence blossoming in her children.","url":"https://time.com/3802764/the-most-intimate-dance-elinor-caruccis-photos-of-motherhood/","keywords":["LightBox","motherhood","portraits","Out There"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c94998e51f52cd7/6987a767524fc01d0edef4ab/iam_00036311_resized.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Susan Bright","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/susan-bright/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c94998e51f52cd7/6987a767524fc01d0edef4ab/iam_00036311_resized.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"iam_00036311_resized","caption":"Induced, 2004","creditText":"Elinor Carucci—INSTITUTE","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3802764/the-most-intimate-dance-elinor-caruccis-photos-of-motherhood/","name":"The Most Intimate Dance: Elinor Carucci's Photos of Motherhood"}}]}] ```