Growth Chart

Growth Chart explores how traditions and lessons are passed down through generations on a family farm. It seems that nearly every child in our family has helped our grandpa feed a bottle baby—a calf that has been rejected by its mother. For me, this has become a kind of rite of passage, but it is also a lesson in having a nurturing spirit. As the grandfather nurtures the child, he teaches her how to care for something that depends on her.

The title Growth Chart comes from the scene being a rite of passage and from the way the fence seems to measure up to the young girl and her grandpa, who towers over her. The fence almost acts like a growth chart, marking the difference in their size while also representing the generations between them.