Motherhood
For centuries Motherhood has been presented in various forms within the arts. Historically, you might see depictions of the Virgin Mary and other works created using the artists own Mother as a muse. Often created from a male perspective, pregnancy or fertility were rarely considered, warping the reality and complexity of motherhood.
Below are three of the most inspiring contemporary female artists to celebrate an authentic and diverse perspective on what it means to be a mother.
Carrie Mae Weems
“My work endlessly explodes
the limits of tradition.”
- Carrie Mae Weems
Carrie Mae Weems’s is known for her radical approach to photography. She shares an intimate insight into the ordinary social relationships that we all experience. One of her most famous works follows a female protagonist navigating the different stages of life. The Kitchen Table Series explores romantic, maternal and platonic relationships, reminiscent of her own experiences, as she unexpectedly fell pregnant and became a single mother at the age of just 16.
You can read more about Carrie Mae Weems here. Or if you’re interested in seeing her work in person, our friends at Barbican will be showing her first UK major exhibition from Wednesday 21st June — Sunday 3rd September 2023.
2. Phyllida Barlow
Phyllida Barlow and her daughter Clover Peake in front of ‘Shedmesh’ at the Camden Arts Centre, London, 1975 Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth
“Often when the children were asleep,
I would come down into the studio and work in the dark.
I treasured those times.”
- Phyllida Barlow
British sculptor Phyllida Barlow’s practice consists of dramatic installations made from inexpensive materials, they’re often precariously balanced and occupy large spaces. In an interview with the New York Times, Barlow describes how she navigated a balance between motherhood and her work:
“I began to work at night in the dark with no lights on, and because I became so fascinated by touching and feeling a baby when you’re cleaning or washing it, and all the wonderful, nonverbal contact you have with this creature, I think it got into the work in the form of a real exploration of touch. And because I turned the lights off, I was using materials in a very nonvisual way.“
You can read more about Phyllida Barlow’s work during an interview between her and Jennifer Higgie at Hauser & Wirth.
Phyllida Barlow, upturnedhouse, 2012. Collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh.
3. Barbara Hepworth
© Barbara Hepworth - estate of Bob Collins / National Portrait Gallery, London
“I’m not fit to live with unless I can do some work
even an hour a day keeps me civilised.”
- Barbara Hepworth
One of the most recognisable female artists to reference motherhood in their work is modernist British sculptor, Barbara Hepworth. Historically presented as a fiercely independent work motivated woman, her postnatal struggle began after giving birth to triplets in 1934. Her partner, artist Ben Nicholson, was in an open marriage and returned to his wife and three other children in Paris, leaving Hepworth to look after three newborns and her four-year-old child.
They lived in a small, basement flat in Hampstead. She and Nicholson eventually came to the decision for the babies to leave her care at four months old, where they would stay at a nursery until after they were one. Her work at the time reflected this turbulent period and a recurring theme of mother and child claimed her practice, ‘the work was more formal, and all traces of naturalism had disappeared, and for some years I was absorbed in the relationships in space, in size and texture and weight, as well as in the tensions between the forms.’
You can read more about the life and work of Barbara Hepworth at Tate St Ives, with their current exhibition Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life running until 1st May 2023.