AUGUSTA - What if you could measure a mother's future dreams for her children against the life that has become? In 1995 the photographer Elisabeth Broekaert travelled to Maine, in the north-east of the United States. Ronnie and Laurie Moulton opened their doors and let her make portraits that were then published in the Belgian newspaper De Standaard.
Laurie saw her son Scott, then 9, become a truck driver. Her daughter Nicky (7), country singer and the smallest, Shyanne (6) who writes from back to front and can't sit still for a second, ballerina.
Two decades later, Broekaert went back. The pictures from now, only seem to differ in colour from what was before. Just like back then, life in Maine is hard. Jobs are scarce and often poorly paid. Ballerinas or country singers do not produce this piece of Maine. Laurie has passed away. Ronnie has a new girlfriend but doesn't hide the loss of the mother of his children. Now it's Nicky who's trying to keep the family together. Her son wants to become a bicycle mechanic or a policeman. Her daughter is a singer.
Meet the Moultons – Part II, De Standaard, 04/07/2020.