Viewing motherhood
I am a daughter, but not a mother. Dorothea Lange’s famously photographed migrant mother had seven children at the age I have none. What I guess is this: once you become a mother, you cannot be impartial, observing life without participating. You are vested, primal. Writer Sarah Black describes a mother’s transformed gloss on reality as her “Terminator Eye,” a fierce and constant vigilance surrounding her children. The experience of motherhood gives a woman access to the full gamut of human feeling (not just the Hallmark part). Jean Sorabella offers a sweetly personal visual tour of mothers and children in art at the Met. To celebrate Mother’s Day, here are more images that capture the complications of motherhood.
Sentimentality vs. nuance
General Mom—delicious, saccharine nostalgia
Herb Lubalin's type "families"
Money, guilt and love mix awkwardly
The mother's body—sacred and profane?
Mother-daughter mirroring—relationships and sexuality
Artmaking—children as collaborators and challengers
Tender loving care
Losing a child—a grief to consume the world
Careworn yet resigned to endure
At a remove—once we separate, can we know her?
Her strength of spirit—mother as a cathedral
Related articles
- Neo-maternalism: Contemporary artists’ approach to motherhood (the Brooklyn Rail)
- Mothers have their day onscreen (the Vancouver Sun)
- Symbol for mother (whats-your-sign)
- Marilla Cuthbert: a wonderful maternal figure (the mom crowd)
rebecca henretta | design » into « words 