My name is Sunshine Tourtillott I’m a Wisconsin native currently living in Phoenix Arizona. As a visual artist, I use photography and creative writing to explore the experience of maternal identity after child loss, the meaning and power of identity, and sociocultural questions and consequences. Examinng life after child loss and how mothers of child loss try to interact within society. The challenges we face in trying to acknowledge our children, acknowledge our situation, and still be a part of our communities.

My goal is to examine the social interactions and implications in building relationships as a bereaved mother rather than the traditional representations of sadness and grief we all know. My photographic process is an exploration in my identity after child loss, an exploration in how to share and bring awareness through my process and further explore how child loss changes the female experience. My photographic process includes word mapping, creative writing, and exploration. In addition, work in themes of genealogy, religion, metaphysics, and academic research on maternal identity.