From Molly Gottschalk’s article for Artsy:
‘Fathers,’ which Ponikowski launched after a decade at the helm of a creative agency, became a platform through which to inspire and empower modern-day dads with a more accurate expression of their day-to-day realities. But “we aren’t pushing anything,” clarifies Ponikowski. “We wanted to show that there isn’t one perfect model of fatherhood; there’s no formula.”
…Pieces in recent issues drive that diversity home. In issue four, there’s a photo essay by Jesse Burke that is the product of five years of roadtrips across the United States with his daughter Clover, captured between the ages of five and nine. Burke, in a recent interview, said that he’d had free reign and full parental responsibility during Clover’s off-weeks from school. Burke seized the opportunity to teach his daughter about the world by introducing her to nature. In the essay, we see Clover standing in expansive wilderness—sometimes in the company of the occasional beached whale or bird carcass. For the young girl, it was an immediate lesson about life, and mortality.
“I want my child to be strong, to be a warrior,” Burke writes in ‘Fathers.’ “I want her to know that it’s okay to hurt, to cry, and to bleed.”
Browse the series “Wild & Precious” at ClampArt
Browse all of Jesse Burke’s work at ClampArt