Just as feelings surrounding motherhood are intense and highly subjective, so are the images in “Home Truths: Photography and Motherhood”, now on exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago through July 13, 2014. In photographs and videos, nine international artists challenge traditional conceptions of that hallowed role. Curator Susan Bright succeeds not only in gathering provocative viewpoints but also in drawing a perceptive parallel: “Like photography itself, the expectations and demands of motherhood are in flux; both subject and medium grapple for new meaning in a changing world.”
“Untitled (Nave 2), 2012” by Hanna Putz (courtesy of the artist)
The parallel between photography and motherhood is spelled out most directly by the youngest and most media native of the exhibiting artists, 27 year-old Austrian photographer Hanna Putz. She uses intimate but faceless portraits of fashion models and their babies to explore the issue of posing and performance. By reacting against typical celebrity photography with genuine and respectful imagery, Putz pointedly questions the value of media hype.
Still shot from the film “Gazelle, 2012” by Katie Murray (courtesy of the artist)
The idea of motherhood is approached diversely, including work on adoption (Ann Fessler), stillbirth (Fred Huning), and failed IVF infertility treatments (Elina Brotherus). Even in actual photographs of mothering, each artist seems to be making the point that being a mother is an overpowering responsibility. True enough, but that’s not all it is. And, save for “Gazelle”, the 2012 video by Katie Murray, the work in this show is almost uniformly humorless. In the video, Murray struggles through an exercise routine on a “Gazelle “ elliptical machine, to the televised videotape of a clueless male trainer, while one child is clinging to her back and another clasped to her front. At the end, we cut to a film clip of an African Gazelle prevailing against two attacking tiger cubs, finally breaking free and running away. Murray succeeds in balancing honesty and wit, persevering while performing a tricky juggling act recognizable to any mother. I think the greatest weakness of “Home Truths” is that, while motherhood engenders a range of often conflicting emotions and desires – sometimes simultaneously, as in Murray’s film – most of the work here is skewed to the serious and painful end of the spectrum, to its detriment. If viewed in isolation, it could be a very effective form of birth control.
“Inhabit, 2009” by Janine Antoni (courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York)
The wall-sized self-portrait of Janine Antoni has a bizarre, dreamlike quality. Antoni appears suspended in a spider-like web, enclosed from the waist down inside a dollhouse in her young child’s bedroom. Here is a mother ironically trapped in her child’s playhouse. Even though her surroundings are warm and bright, Antoni’s downcast Madonna gaze is expressionless, her circumstance clearly unwelcome. The image addresses the simultaneous sense of abundance and loss, a theme prevalent throughout the exhibit.
From the series “Kinderwunsch” by Ana Casas Broda (courtesy of the artist)
Both the actualization and loss of identity is another dichotomy of motherhood addressed in “Home Truths”. Ana Casas Broda (Mexico) and Elinor Carucci (USA) explore this theme through a prolific number of self-portraits with their children. Casas Broda dwells in the overwhelming nature of her role, most often appearing naked, reclining and passive as one or both of her sons feed, play or assault her body with various materials. Many images seem purposely uncomfortable to view. Carucci adopts a distinctively gentler tone, engaging more directly with her children, which in turn engages the viewer. Both artists evoke conflicting maternal emotions in photographically raw and largely unexplored territory.
“The First Week, 2004”, by Elinor Carucci, from the book “Mother”, Prestel, 2013 (courtesy of the artist and Edwyn Houk Gallery, New York)
In her series “The Mother Project”, Tierney Gearon photographs the relationship between herself, her aging and mentally fragile mother and her children, in an exploration of her own changing role. Although many scenes are set up, Gearson’s photographs are brilliantly rendered: some are poignant and others so crazy they are funny, in a Pulp Fiction kind of way (see feature photograph).
“Untitled, 2006” from “The Mother Project” by Tierney Gearon (courtesy of the artist)
I think “Home Truths” has been deftly curated and while it is not the purpose of art to placate or beautify, I might not recommend this exhibit for the uninitiated. I can appreciate why the show was not “balanced” with sweeter images – we’ve seen those already. But I also understand why my companion, pregnant with her first child, beat a hasty retreat.
From the series “Annonciation, 2009” by Elina Brotherus (courtesy of the artist and GB Agency, Paris)
For more information about the “Home Truths” exhibit, go to: http://www.mocp.org/exhibitions/2014/04/home-truths-photography-and-motherhood.php
Feature image: “Untitled, 2006” from “The Mother Project” by Tierney Gearon (courtesy of the artist)
To read my review of Elinor Carucci’s book, “Mother”, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/caruccis-mother/
Share On Facebook
Tweet It
