Issues in Art, Isolation and hardships of motherhood by Alexa Rosen

LaToya Ruby FrazierMomme, (Shadow), 2008

lxrsn192 — 2017-04-26 23:32:20 UTC

Artist LaToya Ruby Frazier is pictured hiding behind her mother, creating a unified shadow and almost making herself a shadow of her mother. The piece is photographed in black and white, highlighting the dark Frazier family past. Having the artist hiding behind as the shadow of her mother shows how mothers are very isolated within their job as mothers and often feel followed by the shadow of their children. Feeling isolation between just mother and child often provides a lot of hardships. In addition having the child as a shadow shows how children are an extension of their mothers. The one uniform shadow that both mother and child create shows how their is a special bond created by motherhood. (NBC News, Natalia Jimenez)

Larry Sultan, My Mother Posing For Me, 1984

lxrsn192 — 2017-04-26 23:43:05 UTC

This image is a picture of the photographers parents. This picture shows the relationship and position that Sultan’s mother holds within their family dynamic. Sultan’s mother is pictured in a satin shirt and polyester pants, dressed up and posing against green wall next to two house plants and the television. The placement of the mother in this image depicts her as an accessory to sit still and be looked at, like the television or the plant next to her. The father in this image is relaxed and seated while watching a baseball game. This photograph shows the family dynamic, how the mother is unable to sit down and enjoy watching television, how the mother feels isolated and almost objectified posing against the wall. The mothers pose shows some frustration and dissatisfaction, making the viewer aware of her role within the family and meaning to her husband. (Art Institute of Chicago)

Motoyuki Daifu, “Family,” 2011 c-print 30 x 40 inches

lxrsn192 — 2017-04-27 00:57:09 UTC

Motoyuki Daifu depicts his own home life in the piece “Family”. The subject of this image is a breastfeeding mother with two children. The one small child is being breastfed while the other toddler age child is shown hung over the mothers shoulder crying. This picture depicts the chaotic life of mothers with young children. This picture also highlights how mothers are often torn between giving children their individual attention. Each child in the picture is touching the mother and invading her personal space highlighting how hard motherhood can be to maintaining ones own individual identity and space from children. The brightly colored photo that shows a lot of objects and colors catered to children shows just how encompassing childcare is in a mothers life. Amidst all the stress surrounding the mother we can see a sense of calmness and peace in her face, despite having a screaming toddler on her back. The chaos, challenges, and aloneness of motherhood are all shown within this photograph. (Huffington Post)

Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother With Three Children, 1936

lxrsn192 — 2017-04-27 01:31:27 UTC

This historical imagine captures true hardship faced by a migrant mother in the United States during a economical depression. This imagine not only encompasses hardships faced by everyone in the United States during this time but mothers specifically. The woman has a concerned dirty face and furrowed brow, her expression lets the viewer know how concerned she is. Two children are posed facing away which shows how the mother was embarrassed of their situation and respected her children’s identity, an infant is wrapped away and hiding in the mother’s arms. The children are taking shelter and warmth from their mother which shows how a mother’s work is never over. This photograph highlights how all this woman has is her children and their needs to take care of. The hardships of the time and the timeless personal hardships mothers face are a poignant aspect of this photograph. (Library of Congress)

Erika Gorton Liminal 2, 2015

lxrsn192 — 2017-04-27 01:58:16 UTC

This oil painting shows a mother under a plastic bag. The faces of the mother is both unclear and blurred by the bag. The bag is a representation of the suffocation that a mother feels in the isolated world of motherhood. The bag encompasses the woman making her not only suffocated but blind to the outside world. Since the mother is unable to see outside of the bag, this shows how not only is motherhood suffocating but it is also blinding and limiting. Gofton highlights the hardships of loss of individuality, suffocation and anxiety faced by mothers. This anxiety that coexists with motherhood is the fear that is attached to worrying about another individual and fearing that as a mother you are not doing well. This suffocation deals with loss of individuality and gaining the responsibility for another individual. (ABC News)

Citations

lxrsn192 — 2017-04-27 17:49:38 UTC

Art Institute of Chicago. "So the Story Goes, Larry Sultan." Artic, Art Institute of Chicago, Dec.2006, www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/story/sultan.html. 

"Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant Mother' Photographs in the Farm Security Administration Collection: An      Overview." Library of Congress, 1998, www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html.Brooks, Katherine.
 
"In Honor Of Mother’s Day, A Look At The Moms Of Art History." Huffington Post, 8      May 2015, www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/08/mothers-in-art_n_7245840.html. 

Jimenez, Natalia. "Rust-Belt Ruins: How Three Generations of Women Survive." NBC News, 2 Oct. 2015,www.nbcnews.com/news/photo/rust-belt-ruins-how-three-generations-women-survive-n201661.Accessed 12 Apr. 2017.

Romensky, Larissa. "The beautiful and ugly side of motherhood explored in Kyneton art exhibition."      ABC News, 8 June 2016, www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-08/      the-beautiful-and-ugly-side-of-motherhood-in-photos/7493572.

Introduction

lxrsn192 — 2017-04-27 19:15:44 UTC

This exhibition encompasses the gender biased struggle that women face once they become mothers. The isolation, anxiety and hardships that coincide with motherhood are an exclusive struggle to women. The images, Shadow, My Mother Posing for Me, Family, Migrant Mother With Three Children, and Liminal 2 Highlight exactly how the identity of women changes once they become mothers and this sort of feeling of isolation that is often not expressed by mothers. These images together help share emotions unique to motherhood and help highlight the roles that mothers play within families and the importance of a mother child relationship. These images together also show a certain standard that society puts on women as mothers to be perfect mothers but still not feel anxious about being excluded with their children. The goals of this exhibition is to bring light to the often undermined feelings that mothers feel and the normality of imperfections in a family dynamic. This exhibition highlights how the feelings of sadness and anxiety that coincide with motherhood are okay and do not deem one a bad mother. The feelings that are shown in these pieces are important to understand the gender bias and standards put on women in the family dynamic. These art pieces address the question of what sort of pressure as a society do you place on mothers? The pieces show that as a society we place a standard of a need for perfection on mothers. Also this piece addresses how the roles of parenthood are different dependent on gender. This pressure that is exhibited in these pieces is exclusive to mothers and society seems to not place this pressure on men and there seems to be less anxiety and isolation in fatherhood. Father’s in societies eye are given less of a role in family life, leaving all the pressure of women. These works are all important to understanding the modern day family life that exists in culture, in order to change and further understand the family dynamic that exists we must confront societies family standards. The important role these pieces play is to change the way we view modern families and take the pressure off of women.