I Know Your Love By the Way You Look At Me

Moments of the daily life of a 99-year-old woman residing in Dayton, Ohio. Barbara has lived in her home since 1963 and her life has become limited because of the passing of time. These photographs show Barbara’s daily routine, emphasizing her independence and strength. However, there are moments of sadness and isolation.

The typical morning begins with a slow descent from the staircase around 9 a.m.

Barbara has a simple breakfast. Somedays, she enters her dining room and goes through her mail.

Her doctor’s visit for macular degeneration, a hereditary disease, brought her to near blindness. Although Barbara couldn’t see, she insisted she felt loved by how her granddaughter looked at her.

There are more intimate moments of Barbara’s weekly shower, when her youngest daughter, who also lives in the home, gets in to help her stay safe.

Barbara passed away while the photographer was out of the country. Eleanor plans to continue the story in her grandmother’s absence. This photo essay developed the photographer’s understanding of familial love and the passing of time.

Eleanor Moseman

Eleanor Moseman is a photographer, adventuress, and storyteller focusing on social and cultural narratives involving women and persecuted groups of people around Asia. More specifically, she visually conserves the politically sensitive regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, drawing international awareness to the humanitarian issues of persecuted Buddhists in Tibet and the Muslim Uighurs (or Uigur community) of Xinjiang.

With a BFA in Photography and Film from Virginia Commonwealth University, Eleanor now uses her photography and storytelling skills to contribute to the research of anthropologists, historians, conservationists, and activists. She speaks fluent Mandarin and is beginning her third year of Tibetan language studies at Indiana University. Eleanor is deeply committed to women’s issues that range from persecuted Buddhist and Muslim women to female competitors in the World Nomad Games in Kyrgyzstan.

In addition to her documentary-style work, Eleanor is also a noted architectural and interior photographer with assignments that have taken her throughout Asia and the United States. She also owns and manages a photography studio and gallery, “The Lone Huntress Photography Studio” in Dayton, Ohio where she creates portraits and displays her work from around the world.

With Tibet being blocked off from the world since she left three years ago, Eleanor plans to return as soon as possible to continue her long-term work, begin new projects, and share how this delicate region has changed over the last few years. As one of the few photographers working continually in the region for over a decade, she feels a responsibility to document and share what has transpired politically, physically, and culturally since Covid changed the world.