The Affect of Images is an experimental exhibition in publication form. It addresses the subjective nature of the interpretation of images and their affective responses by looking at the works of six contemporary photographers whose practices investigate maternal exposures, self-portraiture and re-enactment. It discusses the therapeutic aspects of photography by introducing techniques in phototherapy and how they are used in each photographer’s artistic practice. The selected works explore how the body and the lens work in collaboration to successfully explore concepts of memory, identity, representation, parent/child relationships, vulnerability, grief, and time. Weaving personal narrative, visual analysis and photo theory, this text contributes to an emerging dialogue on reframing the de/constructed and re/constructed image as a mechanism for healing and identity awareness. This work also explores the labour of curatorial practice as a therapeutic tool for self-awareness and healing. Photographers under examination include Clarisse d’Arcimoles, Jess T. Dugan, Catherine Opie, Chino Otsuka, Jo Spence & Rosy Martin and Andrea Jenkins Wallace.