The exhibition begins with a piece about the home truth and what it is. "A home truth can be simply understood as a fact that is somehow discomforting to acknowledge or may cause embarrassment." It continues: "The work in this show may do all of those things." And that is does for a number of reasons.
As you enter the rooms in the Photographer's Gallery there are signs stating that under 12s will not be admitted and those under 16 will if accompanied by parents. This is due to the sexual nature of the exhibits. I wouldn't call myself a prude but I did find some of the images uncomfortable viewing like Leigh Ledare for example. Ledare's work, Pretend You're Actually Alive, explores the relationship between himself and his mother and destroys beyond doubt the sentimental view of motherhood. It is posited as a collaboration between mother and son with the mother presented in a number of pornographic poses. In the BJP article XXX the writer compares it to Richard Billingham's Ray's a Laugh where an 'ordinarily innocuous, familiar sounding subject [the snapshot] is turned into intimate, frank, uncomfortable content." However, for me, I was able to associate with Billingham's family. You couldn't help but feel some emotion for them or the photographer. I didn't feel that with Ledare's work here.
Perhaps this may be because I am female and I didn't have to make that awkward transition most males do in puberty when they realise their mother, the woman that has loved nurtured them was also the object of men's sexual attention. The very fact that pornographic material is of interest to many young males and teenagers for very obvious reasons makes it difficult to reconcile these pictures of women and their image of mother as woman.
The exhibition sets out to question the stereotypes of motherhood and the sentimental ways in which it has been treated to date. It looks at being a mother in the work of Putz, Carucci, Antoni and Murray. It looks at the child's relationship with the mother in the work of Ledare, Casas Broda and Fred Hunig. It also looks at the loss of a mother in the work of Fessler and Ishiuchi.
I would agree that it is enlightening to see the reality of having twins for Elinor Carucci. I felt the pain looking at the image My belly after birth to twins and C-section. The scar looked dry and far from healing. Her images also cover the moments we don't normally see like giving her naked child a cuddle while she herself is sitting naked on the toilet seat with the exception of her knickers which are around her knees. As a mother I can safely say that I have had numerous moments with my son when he was a child which challenge the sentimental view of motherhood which I feel would convey more meaning that this.
As a single mother, I remember very clearly the day I went home to tell my mother that I was pregnant and I did this quite effectively without having to take all my clothes off bar my knickers in the process. I just don't know exactly what the artist is trying to do here. The photograph is uncomfortable for her parents in the image as they look on and see their little girl has grown up into a woman. It is equally uncomfortable for the viewer.
I found Elina Brotherus' series illustrating the difficulties in conceiving using IVF very interesting not because of her difficulties conceiving but because of the ways she chose to tell her story. The images consist of images of her injecting herself with hormones and the tears and disappointment when the latest IVF cycle fails in a way that is hard hitting but unsentimental. It is very factual. Brotherus to me seems rather androgynous which also challenges the maternal desires of women and the way they have been portrayed historically.
I particularly liked the work of Ana Casas Broda Kinderwunsch. I could really identify with the unlocking of suppressed memories of her own childhood and difficult relationship with her mother. I can't say that I have had a difficult relationship with my mother when I was a child but I did find that once I became a mother myself I found myself faced with a lot of memories from my childhood that had long been forgotten or buried.
I really liked the images in her work, the dark backgrounds, the lighting and the richness of her subjects and matter. The work was displayed in a way which I felt was to be seen as a whole with each picture in the series depicting a special memory.
Hannah Putz photographed young mothers as they become mothers for the first time focusing on her friends. I felt that this was a little light on meaning for me. I did think it was interesting though that the mother's faces were obscured by the baby in the shots. The baby does become the most important thing once it comes along. It tends to take over. However, I feel that there was something missing from the images. I felt that there was another way to get this message across.
By far the most complex work was that of Janine Antoni. She suspended herself for hours in a spider like position while a spider spun a web around her. Her legs were in a dolls house and her web/legs gave the impression of her being pulled in all directions. The accompanying shots were close ups from the doll's house or the real spider's webs and some of the scenes from childhood.
Gazelle, a film by Katie Murray focused on her mission to lose 'baby-weight' after the birth of her second child. In the film we see her on a cross trainer at home doing a video workout. She is interrupted by her children which also want to workout. She has one in a sling and one on her back when she finally gets to finish her workout. The viewer is relieved from this sight by images of a gazelle with its young in the wild which cuts in every now and then. This work is a spectacle and borders on the ridiculous as she strives to regain her former pre baby self.
The Foundling Museum
The theme of loss is central to the work displayed in The Foundling Museum. I felt that identified more with the work exhibited here than perhaps I did at the Photographer's Gallery. That may be because I can identify with parental loss and the quest to find out more about a parent you know very little about or have very few memories of.
I think the most interesting piece of work across bother exhibitions for me was Ann Fessler's film Along the Pale Blue River. The film uses collage, video and archival footage of farms and rivers in the Midwest America to tell her story. The story is told by voiceover - Fessler's own voice and her hypnotic tones recount the story of a young woman - her biological mother - who runs away from her small rural town when she discovers she's pregnant. Forty years later the artist goes on a journey to find her mother's photograph in a high school yearbook. It is on this journey that she discovers the river that was where she grew up had its source where her mother was from. This river provided a link to them that she never knew about.
I liked the way in which Fessler tackled a story that is traditionally made into a sentimental drama in a more informative way that is still intimate but not sentimental.
Miyako Ishicuhi's Mother's series focuses on the loss of her own mother. The images were taken after her unexpected death in 2000 from a blood transfusion. Ishicuhi's relationship with her mother was conflicted and was just on the mend when she died. This is her attempt to come to terms with her loss. A loss most of us will have to face - the death of our mother.
She photographs her mother's possessions - her lipstick, hair brush and clothes. These are the only things she has to remind her of her mother. A woman that has had such an impact of her life - and all that remains is a series of worthless items. However, they have sentimental value for the artist. So here, unlike in the other work in this exhibition, we have a deliberate move towards the sentimental. These everyday items mean a great deal to the artist. They have very special significance.
This reminds me very much of a doll my dad bought me when I was in hospital with appendicitis. He got it from the hospital shop so it was nothing special. However, when he died shortly after that the doll meant a lot more to me. It was the only thing I had he had actually bought for me himself. My mother would always do the shopping in our house.
My thoughts
I wanted to go on this study visit to see if Motherhood and Identity was something I would identify with. When I did my English degree I never really enjoyed feminism. I believe in equality, but I feel that men and women are different and can never be equal. I accept the fact that there are things men can do better than women and vice versa. I suppose fairness would be a better way of describing my version of equality.
I feel that I have never identified with writers who seem to believe that being a woman and motherhood are what defines us. I agree that our experience of the world is different to a man's. I also agree that motherhood is a life changing event. But is it what defines us? When all is said and done and on judgement day is that what will be said about your life. You were a mother!
I couldn't help but feel that there was something missing from this exhibition. Where were all the real women? With the exception of Casas Broda and Murray where were all the women with stretch marks and sagging breasts. Instead we were treated to lovely slim women who's bodies returned to normal after giving birth. Where were the men? Without them there would be no motherhood? And isn't motherhood part of parenthood?
I believe that motherhood should be explored but I couldn't help coming away from this exhibition feeling like some of the work was an extension of the modern world mother. The woman who reads every book available to become the best mother, the woman who goes to sling club, breast feeds their child till they are 20 and looks down their nose on any other woman who has opted for pain relief during labour. The type of woman who believes having a c-section means you are a failure.
There is more to motherhood that naked intimacy. There's unconditional love, responsibility, parenthood, education, security, fun, fights, anger, frustration, depression, suppression, isolation, sickness, disappointment and betrayal. I just feel that in order to challenge the sentimental stereotypes some of these themes need to be addressed.
The exhibition introduced me to some themes in motherhood but not ones which are totally familiar to me. I don't feel that they truly challenge the stereotype of motherhood either. So perhaps for that reason I find it difficult to truly identify with although I do appreciate the work.
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