Casual photos of parents waving goodbye have big emotional impact

Like many people, Deanna Dikeman moved away from her childhood home to go to college, and never moved back.

When she returned home to Sioux City, Iowa, to visit her parents, she took photographs of them.

“At some point, after I think 17 years, I realized I had all those goodbyes,” she recounts. “I kind of said, ‘Oh my gosh, look what I’ve done.’ I knew I needed to finish the project, until they were gone.”

The result is Leaving and Waving, a photo exhibition at the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver that runs until April 2. The exhibit features 71 photos of her parents waving goodbye to Deanna as she pulls out of their driveway.

Sounds simple, but it packs an emotional punch. Twice during a half-hour interview at the Polygon, people stopped Dikeman to tell her how moved they were by her photos.