BELLE — The Osage Arts Community (OAC) Gallery closed its latest exhibition, for dear life by artist and photographer Angela Shaffer, on Nov. 1, marking the end of a month-long reflection on motherhood, time and impermanence.

Shaffer, who teaches in the University of Missouri’s School of Visual Studies, described the exhibit as a deeply personal look at the emotional labor of motherhood in relation to the persistence of time. The staged photographs depict her and her son in controlled, symbolic scenes that she calls both a document and metaphor.

She explained that for dear life began as a way to process the constant changes in her child’s life and her own shifting sense of identity.

“Motherhood intensifies the fragility of time,” Shaffer said. “As my son rapidly grows into new versions of himself, I beg for time to slow.”

Originally from Berlin, Pa., Shaffer said her upbringing in a family of artists shaped her creative path.

“My dad was my elementary art teacher,” she said. “They opened up a gallery, and so I kind of was born and raised in this art space.”

After earning her degree in art education from Asbury University, she taught high school art for five years in Kentucky before returning to graduate school to pursue photography.

Shaffer said photography offered her something her earlier painting and drawing could not.

“It was the frustration of not ever being able to visually articulate something that was in my imagination,” she said. “When I set things up through photography, it was like, ‘oh, I can do it.’ I can see it come to fruition through a photograph.”

Her recent work draws on “Matricentric Feminism,” a theory that centers mothers’ experiences and needs. Through her lens, Shaffer says she uses controlled imagery to “wrestle with her son’s burgeoning independence,” exploring both sentiment and anxiety as intertwined forces.

Shaffer said showing her work in Belle was particularly meaningful because of OAC’s outreach to local schools.

“I’m very passionate about art education,” she said. “I think it’s exciting to have my work in the space so that small-town kids can see it.”

Shaffer said she looks forward to continuing that dialogue between art and education. Her next project will take her to Washington University in the spring, where she’ll work with students to curate an exhibit together.

“I’m basically bringing my work and working alongside them,” she said. “It’s also kind of about them learning the curatorial process alongside me as the artist.”

Before leaving Belle, Shaffer expressed gratitude to the OAC and community for admiring her work.

“It’s been a really great experience to show work here, and meet Mark (McClane) and some of the residents,” she said. “It’s an amazing space and opportunity for the community.”