The film was the culmination of a five-year project beginning in the mid-1970s. During this time, Rivers filmed his adolescent daughters, Gwynne and Emma, every six months to document their physical development.

: The work is often cited as an example of Rivers' tendency to blur the lines between his personal life and his art, often at the expense of those closest to him.

Unlike traditional still life, the shadow of the plant does not fall neatly to the side. In Growing , the shadow often appears to be moving forward , threatening to overtake the plant itself. This creates a visual paradox: the object and its absence (light and dark) are competing for dominance.

Rivers once said in an interview, "The greatest thing about a drawing is the evidence of the artist changing his mind." Growing is that philosophy in action. The stray marks are not mistakes; they are the history of the eye moving.

The series documents the girls' physical development through puberty. According to reports from The New York Times Vanity Fair