On Seeing. A Journal, #425
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Growing Up: Debbie Mausner
7 years and 25 years
Growing Up: I have studied over 200 children from childhood into their 20’s. I began some when they were newborns; others, as is the case with Debbie Mausner, started about the time they could read and write. For all of them I made annual studio portraits and asked them to write answers to a series of questions, a kind of diary about their lives, their feelings, their hopes, their regrets.
I really enjoyed seeing Debbie each year. I have great admiration and fondness for her; she was always so remarkably delightful and authentic.















I hope you are doing well through these tough times brought on by COVID.
I am interested in everything about human development, fascinated by maturation, growth, emotional, educational and physical development. My “Growing Up” project has been a major 30 year odyssey, an almost limitless exploration and adventure that has yielded riches beyond my initial imagining.
Permission was signed by the parents of each and every child every year, and by the participants themselves once they turned 18. In addition, we have now sent copies of all of their writings and edited photographs to the participants for whom I have finished all my editing and have received full permission from that group to publish and post.