©Deanna Dikeman, from Relative Moments

I have always loved Deanna Dikeman’s decades long chronicling of her Iowa family. Her work celebrates the ordinary, moments that are unremarkable at first glance, but are treasures of every day life. She has recently released her second monograph, Relative Moments, published by Chose Commune that beautifully houses her work. Her first sold out monograph, Leaving and Waving, was also published by Chose Commune.

In Relative Moments, Deanna Dikeman chronicles ordinary moments of her family’s activities. From gardening to cutting cake, from filling up the bird bath to mending a piece of clothing, from mowing the lawn to picking rhubarb, one gets to discover an everyday that might otherwise go unnoticed. In this book, which was generously edited and sequenced — 200 photographs in total — one is not only meant to see the moment shot in one photograph, but all the moments that compose the story.

This project captures a visual history of the photographer family’s life, yet, there is an ongoing narrative embedded in these photographs that conveys larger, more universal truths about American culture, familiarity, and the endless source of everyday wonder that surrounds us.

©Deanne Dikeman, from Relative Moments

Relative Moments

Relative Moments is a chronicle of my family: Mom, Dad, my son Theron, Aunt Evey and Uncle Earl, Aunt Margee, Uncle Leo and Aunt Theresa.

I remember driving to Sioux City, Iowa, in 1990 for one last visit to my childhood home before my parents moved to a new house. I took a few photos to keep some memories but wished I had started earlier. Now, looking at the photograph of the electric pan in the old kitchen, I can smell the fried chicken that Mom was cooking for me. That visit was significant: I knew that I wouldn’t take everyday moments for granted, and began to document my parents in their new house.

The contentment I felt while sitting in a lawn chair in the back yard has always stuck with me. There was the day when Evey told me she was going to have one last Christmas tree, forever, and I asked her to wait for me to come help decorate it. If it was going to be her final one, I wanted some pictures. I cherish the tender times like when Dad dug in the dirt to find an earthworm for my son to hold, or the Christmas Eve they threw birdseed on the roof for Santa’s reindeer. I wonder how many times the birdbaths got cleaned out and filled up. No need to be hasty or careless with tasks—slow and meticulous was the best way to tie up a lanky tomato vine, mend clothing, or peel apples.

On a low day, I look at the images and they bring tears to my eyes and I long for days gone by. On a bright day, they fill me with warmth and joy. I laugh with the comical goings-on. These photographs are now my treasures.

©Deanna Dikeman. from Relative Moments

©Deanna Dikeman, Relative Moments front cover

©Deanna Dikeman, Relative Moments back cover

Deanna Dikeman was born in 1954 in Sioux City, Iowa, USA. She has photographed her midwestern family and surroundings since 1985, when she left a corporate job to try a photography class. She graduated from Purdue University with a B.S. in Biology with Honors and Distinction, and an M.S. in Management. She received an Aaron Siskind Foundation Fellowship in 1996, the United States Artists Booth Fellowship in 2008, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in Photography in 2023.

Deanna’s largest and longest photography project documented her parents and other family in her home town. That work included 27 years of photographs of her parents waving goodbye to her as she left from visiting them. “A Photographer’s Parents Wave Farewell” was one of the top 25 stories of 2020 in The New Yorker. She has two books published by Chose Commune: Leaving and Waving in 2021 and Relative Moments in 2024.  Leaving and Waving was a finalist for the 2021 Paris Photo/Aperture Foundation First PhotoBook Award and won the 2021 Prix Nadar awarded by the Association Gens d’Images in France. Photographs from Leaving and Waving have been exhibited at festivals, museums, and galleries in 13 countries: Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA.

Follow Deanna on Instagram: @deannadikeman

Follow Chose Commune on Instagram: @chose_commune

©Deanna Dikeman, Playing the piano, 9/1991 and Best route through Arkansas, 6/1992, from Relative Moments

©Deanna Dikeman, After dinner, 5/1992 and Evey and Earl washing dishes, 9/1991, from Relative Moments

©Deanna Dikeman, Shoveling snow, 1/1994 and Sweeping snow, 1/1994, from Relative Moments

©Deanna Dikeman, Feeding Theron, 5/1998, from Relative Moments

©Deanna Dikeman, Evey and hose, 6/2004 and Dad and hose, 8/2004, from Relative Moments

©Deanna Dikeman, Reindeer food, 12/2005, from Relative Moments

©Deanna Dikeman, Sheet on the clothesline, 8/2006 and Filling the birdbath, 6/2006, from Relative Moments

©Deanna Dikeman, Talking to Carol, 3/2006, from Relative Moments

©Deanna Dikeman, Fixing the light, 8/2011, from Relative Moments

©Deanna Dikeman, Clipping coupons, 9/1991, from Relative Moments

©Deanna Dikeman, Timing the barbecue, 5/1992, from Relative Moments

©Deanna Dikeman, Charcoal lighter fluid, 6/2004 and Cake and ice cream, 6/2004, from Relative Moments

©Deanna Dikeman, Cutting rhubarb, 6/2006, from Relative Moments