On SEEING, A Journal. #537

Growing UP: Milan D’Ercole

August 8, 2023

4 years and 24 years

I have studied over 200 children from childhood into their 20’s. I began with some when their mothers were pregnant, as was the case with Christine D’Ercole, the mother of Victoria. 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.

This special young women, Victoria (Milan) D’Ercole, proved to be as remarkable and authentic as the many young people I have had the privilege to get to know.

Mom, 38 weeks

3 weeks with mom

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old

7 years old

8 years old

9 years old

10 years old

11 years old

13 years old

14 years old

15 years old

16 years old

17 years old

22 years old

23 years old

24 years old

Thank you, Victoria. You did amazingly well and wonderfully these “Growing Up” years. Please do return in a few years.

The “Growing Up “Project:

I am interested in everything about human development. I am fascinated by maturation, growth, emotional, educational and physical development. My exploration, a major 30 year odyssey, has been an adventure that has yielded riches beyond my 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’ve 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 written permission from that group to publish and post.