“Beautiful face”, Rocío Romera González says of her daughter Isabel. “Heart warming smile” she adds, and then “My gorgeous girl. Love of my life”. These are words any parent may use to describe their child, and it is the universal depth of feeling that draws you into the new photographic exhibition at Bàrd Books of disabled children with their mothers.
Seen - Heard - Held is includes a small collection of very personal images and stories which grew out of a series of creative workshops led by Lucinda Lloyd and Matilda Leyser. The pair, who share a background in theatre, teamed up with photographer Mika Rosenfeld to work with mothers and give them agency over how they and their children are represented.
The images are accompanied by audio clips accessible via QR codes as well as text drafted by the women, ranging from spare description and brief narrative to extended poems.
Lloyd, who figures with her son Oli in the show, explains its aim: “At the heart of the project is the question of visibility. Mothers of disabled children are often highly visible and yet unseen — scrutinised by systems, stared at in public, or required to constantly advocate on behalf of their children. Their strength is expected. Their competence assumed. Their stories rarely asked for.”
In coming together to create images and text, the women have experienced something they do not often have: “time, space and choice to attend to their own inner lives”.
Lloyd tells the East End Review how she found unexpected creative awakening of her own through leading the project, which motivated her to return to her previous career as an actor in a production of Mrs Dalloway.
The show that emerged from the collective enterprise of photographer, parents and children is marked most clearly by tenderness, but also by the unabashed pride these women have in their little ones. If you are in the Roman Road area, you’ll not regret dropping in to savour these lovely images.
Seen – Heard – Held
Until 28 June 2026
Bàrd Books
341–343 Roman Road, E3 5QR
