Illuminating the Bad Mother in Contemporary Art
26 Framed and Ready to Present C-Print Photographs
Project Summary: The myth of the good mother in American society is challenged to include the reality of the bad.
Project Statement:
Most depictions of mothers in modern and popular art tend to be idealized projections of kind, loving, nurturing parental figures reminiscent of June Cleaver in Leave it to Beaver. Yet the mother I grew up with in the 1950s was not kind or saintly; she was malevolent and abusive. As such I could never relate to the saccharine maternal images seen on television, in magazines, or in movies. Even today I continue to find dissonance between my memories and experiences of childhood and the myth of the good mother presented in American culture.
The Illuminating the Bad Mother series of 26 images examines the archetype of the bad mother in post–World War II America. Images are transgressive, disjointed, and elliptical. It is not a neat photographic narrative in the traditional, gallery point of view. Just as thoughts and memories of unpleasant childhood experiences are disorderly, so is the mix of images offered. By finding venues to exhibit these illuminations of a bad mother, a voice will be added the chorus of others who are attempting to offer alternate representations of mothers and motherhood.
Project Summary: The myth of the good mother in American society is challenged to include the reality of the bad.
Project Statement:
Most depictions of mothers in modern and popular art tend to be idealized projections of kind, loving, nurturing parental figures reminiscent of June Cleaver in Leave it to Beaver. Yet the mother I grew up with in the 1950s was not kind or saintly; she was malevolent and abusive. As such I could never relate to the saccharine maternal images seen on television, in magazines, or in movies. Even today I continue to find dissonance between my memories and experiences of childhood and the myth of the good mother presented in American culture.
The Illuminating the Bad Mother series of 26 images examines the archetype of the bad mother in post–World War II America. Images are transgressive, disjointed, and elliptical. It is not a neat photographic narrative in the traditional, gallery point of view. Just as thoughts and memories of unpleasant childhood experiences are disorderly, so is the mix of images offered. By finding venues to exhibit these illuminations of a bad mother, a voice will be added the chorus of others who are attempting to offer alternate representations of mothers and motherhood.
