Party no.7, Growth, Change, Influence

As a parent, observing my child growing up fills me with wonder, but also a sense of loss. Children's birthday parties are important social rituals, and on the surface of things, joyous and festive celebrations of life. However, on another level, they are compelling indicators of time’s inexorable passing. Party decorations, food, gifts, toys and costumes alter each year with the age of the child. Their role extends beyond pure ornament and artifice to become symbolic of a transitory childhood world. Party records the aftermath of the birthday banquet where deflated balloons, limp ribbons, melted ice cream and scattered cake crumbs are all that remain; sad and solitary remnants of another passing birthday and another year of childhood gone.