Terry Richardson’s attempts at art always start with the best of intentions. That’s probably why you always find yourself wondering why the model’s bra came off.

Taking a break from the Vogue circuit, the photographer has now turned the camera on the two people responsible for making Terry the man he is. His upcoming Mom & Dad exhibit opens at New York’s Half Gallery on November 11, the same day his two-volume monograph of the same name is released from Morel Books, showcasing portraits of Bob and Annie Richardson. Although the couple divorced while Richardson was only four, the late Richardson Sr. and wife are reunited in this sentimental series. “It feels good for me to have them back together again,” says Richardson, “even if it’s in a gallery and only for a little while. It’s something I’m doing for me and in a way, for them.”

Despite the photographer’s penchant for self-portrait, this time the lens is trained exclusively on his parents, serving as an “epistemological survey of one man’s life in an attempt to reconcile his family origin.” Lofty, for a man who’s name is almost as synonymous with fellatio as it is with photography.

Mom & Dad, November 11 – December 4, 2011, Half Gallery, 208 Forsyth Street, New York