By Ann Marie Collymore, ByBlacks
It can be purposeful yet extremely draining. Whatever it is to any woman on any given day, it’s an everlasting and remarkable experience—but not for all.
The award-winning A Mother Apart is a phenomenal documentary directed by filmmaker Laurie Townshend and presented as an Oya Media Group and NFB co-production. It takes the viewer on a journey of generational trauma, abandonment, healing from deep-set wounds and forgiveness.
Poet, writer and LGBTQIA2S+ activist Staceyann Chin traces back to her childhood in Jamaica and the pivotal moment when her mother, Hazel, left for a new life – with a new family.
Learning about your mother from a place of hurt and indifference is a difficult task. Many questions arise, yet more will surface when you step into adulthood, and your life really starts to take shape. Who is this woman who abandoned me and never looked back? What led her to make these decisions? How does the lifelong anguish affect my identity as a Black woman, and how do I deal with it moving forward?
