Wendy Maxwell: courageous. So often people say that the role of a mother is a job all in its own, but Wendy takes on the roles of mother, business owner, chef, entrepreneur and friend and fits all of those duties into one short day. Knowing how hard she works for all the people who depend on her, I knew that her story needed to be told.. She runs two of her own businesses and overlooks the operation of her eldest son’s business as well. The Maxwell family have taken hold of the corner around High street and Somerset street and have no intention of giving it up any time soon.
The building itself was opened in 1830 but the Maxwell’s Restaurant and Bed ‘n Breakfast has been run by the Maxwell family since 2003. While her sons– Christopher, Andrew and Graham Maxwell all have small roles in helping out around the restaurant and the B ‘n B, the brunt of the responsibility falls on to the shoulders of the head of this family.
Wendy, a multi-tasking master, begins each day between 9 and 10 am, after having worked at Rev’s Diner until 3 am the previous night. She runs the errands for Rev’s Diner, Maxwell’s Restaurant and Café Blanca (even though the latter is owned by her eldest son, Chris). A day of errands may not seem to be the most difficult task, all of this admin must be sorted out in time for her to get back to her kitchen and begin preparing meals for that night at Maxwell’s.
As a result of my job at Café Blanca, I interact with Wendy on a daily basis and am aware of her busy schedule. This often includes organising stock, training new staff members and revising budgets. Being aware of all her responsibilities I was not sure she’d be willing to let me do a photo story on her. When I asked for her permission she simply smiled and said, “Yes, of course you may. I’ve actually had something like this done before so I’ll be used to your big camera flashing at me after a day or two.” In this answer I saw the person I needed to photograph, Wendy Maxwell living out her roles as a mother, a businesswoman and a chef, in her everyday life.
This exhibition is only a small piece of Wendy Maxwell’s life. The photographs depict her time within Maxwell’s Restaurant, her personal responsibility. Within my larger story there are the many other parts to her life - helping out a friend by taking care of their foster puppy for a day, and organising fire wood ahead of winter for all three of the businesses, as well as trying to spend as much time with Graham as possible. I felt that in displaying her life only in terms of Maxwell’s restaurant I could reveal the dedication she puts into this one part of her life; which then emphasises how much harder she works at fitting everything else in.
I tried to make each photograph portray the ways in which Wendy puts herself second best to other people’s needs. She hardly ever takes the time to enjoy a cocktail at Café Blanca after a busy week of work. Having been a Grahamstown local for a number of years, and a local in the service industry, Wendy has many friends around town but I noticed that the most amount of time she spends with any of them, is a quick catch-up over their meal in the restaurant. Any other time, Wendy is focused on her shopping list, her to-do list or her impending duties at Rev’s and Maxwell’s. The only time I got to photograph Wendy having a drink with a friend was late on a Friday afternoon, after a lot of persuasion from her son, Chris and a Café Blanca manager, Matt; both boys have known her long enough to know how to convince her into some relaxation time.
It is very difficult to be a student at Rhodes when your family life is in another province, sometimes even another country. But I have noticed how easily Wendy will take time out to spend with her own sons and her employees if they’re having a rough time. I know that she has often made time to sit with me and become involved in my life, giving up her time to be a mother figure to me. Not only does that make her a very important person in my life, but also a great role model. I hope that my photo story on her will show people the loving, warm person I have come to know this year. Walk a mile in her shoes… I dare you!
