https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/episodes/artist-and-mother
Just finished watching “Artist and Mother” an amazing documentary that surveyed four artists that are mothers. It talked about how they navigated the art world while being a mother—a world is not extremely friendly to mothers.
It talked about how motherhood may be the last taboo in contemporary art—even work made about sex and politics is exhibited but work about motherhood has never been show in a major exhibition (Tate, MOMA) and is rarely seen in galleries.
It mentioned the ironic nature of this—because motherhood is a central theme that we see in some of the earliest recorded art in the world’s history—ancient Incan and Egyptian sculptures depicting motherhood—I was thinking of the Woman of Willendorf which was one of the first pieces I learned about in an art history class in collage- a stone sculpture depicting a fertile figure, referencing motherhood….
Images of the Madonna and Child are central images we associate with art history, yet it is so ironic that those central images no longer play out in our contemporary society
or how until the 20th century these images were solely created by male artists…motherhood was finally being depicted by people that are actually mothers like Alice Neel….
How can I talk about these ideas? Motherhood as complex journey that impacts every aspect of our lives as women that decide to become mothers…How society treats us…