In the midst of the challenge, as Barbara grew older, Wywrot’s pictures grew to become extra collaborative, and extra humorous, with mom and daughter messing round, staging scenes collectively. Wywrot informed me that when her personal artistic power collided with Barbara’s, a “fever would take over” and she or he’d go fetch her digicam. One of many final photos within the guide, a double self-portrait in a mirror, is the one {photograph} that exhibits each Barbara and Wywrot trying straight on the viewer. Barbara’s expression is defiant. Her arms are crossed. Wywrot holds the digicam, her gaze impartial. After I requested mom and daughter concerning the image over the cellphone, they conferred for some time in Polish. They’d been visiting Wywrot’s mother and father in America, and had simply bought right into a spat with them. Each girls have been feeling a bit like teen-agers, Barbara stated: “We went to our room and locked ourselves within the lavatory and took this {photograph}.”
Final March, Barbara, now twenty-two, moved into her personal condominium in Kraków, a ten-minute bike journey from her mom’s. This chapter of “Pestka” is over. Wywrot stated, of Barbara’s leaving the nest, “Oh, it was so troublesome, nevertheless it was crucial. I’m so happy with her. I’m blissful that she is so proficient, so clever, that she’s lovely.” Barbara added, “I’m positive it was extra painful for Mother than for me. That’s how motherhood works, I suppose.”
