Mother's Day

A small hand holds on. A baby orangutan grips its mother's fur with the complete and wordless trust that only the very young possess — the certainty that she is enough, that here is safe, that nothing beyond this warmth needs to exist right now. Shot in warm amber tones that give the image an almost painterly intimacy, this is Bruce Cotton at his most quietly devastating. No face. No context. Just a hand, and what it means. One of the most universal images in the collection — because every person who has ever been held, or done the holding, will recognize this moment immediately and completely.