Although Hockney is best known for his work in painting, drawing, and even stage design, he has demonstrated remarkable freedom by moving beyond these media, including notable explorations with photography in the 1980s. While Hockney was far from the first to experiment with photo-collage, his perceptive experiments with the inherent characteristics of photographic depiction constitute some of the most thoughtful explorations of visual perception and depiction since the invention of the medium. This delightful portrait of the artist’s mother demonstrates Hockney’s use of a simple handheld camera and conventional “drug store processing”—accessible materials that help demystify the potentially complex craft of photography and prove that photographic expression and meaning can be achieved with the simplest tools available to everyone.