At six years old, my son Milo* was diagnosed with Selective Mutism, a severe anxiety disorder that robs him of speech in environments he finds stressful. At home, he speaks openly and with ease. In a sense, Milo experiences a double life over which he has no control; only those closest to him see the whole picture. Between the Silence explores my family’s experience as we navigate the path between the light and the dark; the joy and despair; the sound and the silence.

Milo spent three years unable to express himself outside of our home, before we finally found the answer for which we had desperately searched; a name for our experience. His diagnosis signalled the beginning of a journey for our family. While we now understood what was happening, we were heartbroken to learn that our son was paralysed with fear when he was away from us. I had to endure the guilt of not knowing sooner while at the same time, step up and become all of the things Milo needed his mother to be.

This project began as a therapeutic practice for both myself and my son. Initially, I sought to create a visual tool to discuss emotionally complex topics with a young child. Photography is my way of processing the world, so I turned the lens inward: to document us, to understand him, to feel what he felt. Knowing the power of photography as a therapeutic tool, I armed Milo with a simple Instax camera; a new means to express himself and explore the world. His photos became conversation starters for bigger themes. The images we took together captured a narrative that I had not previously considered. They transformed a project about our little boy into a story about our family. Anxiety is a contagious beast. It has left its mark on us all.