Marilène Coolens photographed her daughter Lisa De Boeck from 1990 to 2003, while playing improvised theatrical sketches. On the bed, at the table or between the curtains in their house in Brussels, we watch the five-year-old girl growing up. Back in 2013 the Flemish Arts Centre De Brakke Grond in Amsterdam presented the first ever exhibition of this analogue archive, which has been hidden away for years.

The Umbilical Vein deals with identity, metamorphosis and familial relationships. It reveals both the foundations of the close mother-daughter bond and the professional career of this artistic duo, who have worked together under the name Memymom since 2004.

The photos lay down a challenge and have an alienating quality. Are they a reflection of current developments, or an innocent mother-daughter ritual? The imaginative characters emerged from the artists’ experience of the 1990s. They found inspiration in passers-by on the street, icons and stereotypes. The fact we don’t see Lisa smile has a tragic aspect, but don’t be fooled. If you look more closely, you can see Catwoman and the First Lady, and even childlike traces of spaghetti Bolognese in the corner of her mouth.

The Umbilical Vein is also included in the Family Issue of Secret Behavior Magazine, a contemporary art publication focused on the human condition, founded and edited by NY based curator and artist James Gallagher. The family issue focuses on the intimate moments of family life as seen through the eyes of exciting new talent. The extremely personal subject matter generates work that is loaded with emotion... birth, childhood, death and divorce will all be explored in this issue. It is an enlightening and haunting look into the private lives of families that you will not soon forget.

The second issue will be launched during the ninth annual NY Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1 from 26 till 28 September 2014. The preview is on Thursday 25 September, 6-9pm