The current keeps moving.
This week, it carries us toward the stories we tell through a mother’s eyes — and our own.
“We learn the rules young — then spend our lives deciding which ones to break.”
— Sylvia Beckerman
Through a Different Lens — featuring photographer and filmmaker Jona Frank
We learn who we are by watching our mothers — and sometimes, by daring to become someone different. After all, every woman’s story begins somewhere between imitation and invention. In many ways, that’s where every story of self begins This week on The Women’s Current, I sit down with portrait photographer, filmmaker, and author Jona Frank, who is redefining the female gaze – and the stories we tell about mothers, daughters, and self. Her memoir Cherry Hill: A Childhood Reimagined blends photography and memory to revisit her own coming-of-age — and her complex relationship with her mother. Through that process, she reclaims pieces o her past while tansforming how she tells it As a result, her images blur the lines between memory and imagination.
In the same way, her work becomes a mirror for anyone reimaging how they’re seen. Meanwhile, through her lens, Jona Frank keeps redefining the female gaze — shifting our perspective from how others view women to how we see ourselves. Ultimately, she challenges how we define visibility itself.
In addition, my co-host Molly Wadzeck joins me to reflect on mothers, daughters, and the stories we inherit — and the ones we choose to tell differently.
Listen. Watch. Reflect
(The current flows from one generation to the next — shaping how we see, and how we’re seen.)
Episode 3 of The Women’s Current: Is the Tide Turning?
Guest: Jona Frank — Redefining the Female Gaze
Watch or listen here → (YouTube) Audio
Maybe the Question Isn’t Whether We’re Modeling or Rebelling
Beyond that, maybe it’s whether we’re finally choosing to be seen on our own terms.
In th end, identity isn’t inherited.
It’s reclaimed — one story at a time.
As Always…
You’ll find new episodes of The Women’s Current every Tuesday.
Find The Women’s Current wherever you listen to podcasts — and on YouTube.
Above all, keep seeing yourself clearly. Stay curious. Stay connected.
And keep seeing yourself clearly.
With truth and tenderness,
Sylvia