The new gaze on motherhood in photography and contemporary art
I am so happy to start my project Lost in Motherhood winner of #StrategiaFotografia2024 , with the online talk The new gaze on motherhood in photography and contemporary art
I will discuss with Karni Arieli curator of the EYE MAMA PROJECT, Helen Knowels curator of the BIRTH RITES COLLECTION and Kristina Varaksina photographer, about the new perspective that photography and contemporary art are bringing to the theme of motherhood.
The talk will be in English (subtitles available) and it’s open to anyone who wants to listen!
📆 Tuesday January 28
⏰ 6pm UK time
✏️ ID webinar: 850 5328 6366
The event is part of the project Lost in Motherhood supported by Strategia Fotografia 2024, promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture
Karni Arieli is a Bafta nominated Filmaker and photographer, founder curator of the EYE MAMA PROJECT. Founded in pandemic as a community on instagram, Eye Mama Project is now a global visual platform that aims to highlight the work of photographers who identify as mothers and showcases the “MAMA GAZE”. Eye mama project won different awards, has been showcased in exhibitions and important magazines and the Eye mama book was published by Teneues Publishing in 2023
Helen Knowles artist and curator of the Birth Rites Collection. Birth Rites is a collection of contemporary art on childbirth. The first of it’s kind in the world. Birth Rites Collection aims to facilitate the production of new cutting edge works by artists who might not normally address the subject because of its taboo status within contemporary art practice, to support the work of artists whose work already engages with issues on this subject and to acquire relevant existing works to expand the collection. Through the presentation and dissemination of the work in the public domain, BRC encourages debate and increases awareness around childbirth practice. The project highlights issues like the shift towards medical intervention in birth and explores the impact of biomedical advances in technology. We explore whether society’s focus on propelling women on to an equal footing with men in the workplace, erodes their importance as mothers and investigate how free women are to give birth in a way they want. The Birth Rites Collection considers who controls the process of childbirth and why.
Kristina Varaksina is a photographer born in Yekaterinburg Russia and based in London. Her work is a creative response to what’s going on in the world and her immediate environment. Varaksina gives voice to people from different ethnic, socio-economic, and cultural backgrounds, sharing their unique stories with wider audiences. The series Dream Children aims to shed light on the emotional and complex experiences that couples and individuals face during their fertility journeys. The work features couples and individuals at different stages of their journey—those still pursuing parenthood, those who have realized their dream of having a child or children, and those who have chosen to stop and close that chapter. While infertility is often perceived as primarily a women’s health issue, male factors contribute to approximately half of infertility cases in heterosexual couples. Additionally, this work highlights the unique challenges faced by same-sex couples and single individuals seeking parenthood, who often confront even greater hurdles in many countries.