New IMOW MAMA Exhibit Online. M.O.M. is pleased to partner to promote this wonderful collaboration from mothers around the world

We are pleased to announce the addition of Norman Gardner’s work in January. His statues and accompanying book celebrate prenatal art and make it accessible to everyone.

Our new ‘Global Motherhood’ wall, featuring different agencies, organizations and countries focused on mother work and maternity health care throughout the world, highlights Saving Mothers.

 

Mother The Job, by Alexia Nye Jackson Synopsis of Exhibit: Mothers are the mighty engine behind the human workforce that fuels the economy.  They are the nucleus of our society’s integrity. This exhibit, quite likely the first of its kind, puts the distinct work of mothers into a tangible form, showing the economic and social value of her work by recognizing the direct connection between her daily labor while raising her child from infancy, and that child’s productivity as an adult in the work force and in society.  In economic terms, she is the producer of “human capital”.Placing a clear and direct assessment of value on the specific work of mothers, the exhibit reveals the apparent economic devaluation and lack of social respect of mother’s work in the United States. Unlike other economically evolved nations with policies governing such areas as paid maternity leave, universal health care and preschool, the United States is truly the laggard in helping its mothers, those who bear most of the burden of rearing the adults of tomorrow who will ultimately support our economy and the propagation of our culture. The exhibit serves as a wake up call for all of us. For  our  policy makers, however, it is to recognize and give economic remuneration to our nations primary caregivers, and ultimately, the family structure as a whole. The quality of the day to day labor, both of employment and of care giving, can then benefit the very people whom the nation will rely on tomorrow…today’s children. Needless to say, the far-reaching ramifications of supporting mothers and the work they perform, does not stop at economic productivity. That is simply a starting point that is most recognizable in the American culture.  It is the good citizen as well whom we all hope to encounter in the next generation and generations thereafter.  In essence, the exhibit is as much about children as it is about the mothers who raise them.
Exhibit Description:The exhibit will consist of a short film, sculpture, photography, domestic artifacts, original writings and integrated art forms portraying the day-to-day life of the mother and her intricate relationship with her child, conveying the passion, intelligence and intuition that go into this, the world’s most important job.  The job of ultimately raising a child to maturity physically, mentally, and emotionally, prepared to enter into society as a productive worker and citizen. The driving force behind the exhibit is in the form of quotations and statistics. Quotes from scholars in economics, child development and related fields, coupled with related economic statistics of the US presents a clear voice: within this format the viewer quickly comes to realize that the powerful and intense job known simply as “mother” is consistently devalued in both the economic and social arenas and that the call for a shift in our thinking and in our actions is urgent work.
Dedication: “This exhibit is proudly dedicated to those of highly evolved skill, of enormous self-discipline, of fierce love, of humbling compassion and of great, great honor – Mothers.Your Mother.  Your child’s Mother.  A Mother wherever you may find her…you.”
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Entrance to Exhibit: Front Entry Area:  Has a large blow up (5 ft x 6 ft.) of a black and white photo entitled “Mother” by photographer Lee Nye of Missoula, Mt. This poignant photo is a close-up profile of a mother’s face as she kisses her infant’s head, while a sibling, following her mother’s example, is kissing the baby from the other side. Black and White image by photographer Lee Nye

Integrated Art FormsFrom the Beginning is a brief historical overview of how the economic value of mothers’ work got left behind in post-industrial America.  And yet, the importance of her domestic and maternal work – unrewarded and unsupported – remained the basis upon which capitalism thrived.  The frame for this piece is carefully laminated with reproduced portions of documents relating the political strides of women through the years.  Also included are excerpts of writings relating the then-and-now struggle to gain political recognition for their work for producing the next generation of capitalists – something they have accomplished so well.

The Virtue Boxes

The Virtue Boxes (10 total) inspire the viewer to consider the value of virtue -something that is often instilled at a Mother’s side – with regard to human capabilities, and portrayed here by each virtue written in calligraphy on artistically reworked paper and “floating” in a linen lined oak wood box (8x10x3 inches).  The boxes are then wall mounted.  This area of such rare artifacts is cordoned off with red velvet ropes, lending the effect of being  invaluable  and  irreplaceable.  An alternate  powerful  version of these  boxes will be 3 x 3 x 2 ft. and stacked.  They can also be dispersed throughout the exhibit.

In Black and White

In Black and White is  photography comparing sixteen jobs mothers perform daily (cook, housekeeper, chauffeur, etc.) that are economically unrewarded and unrespected when performed domestically but are accorded monetary and social value in the marketplace, once again asking the viewer – “Isn’t ‘mother’ a job?”  The market value of each job is listed as well.  Items used to execute these jobs are found all together inside a large Plexiglas box and represent the unrecognized and unrewarded labor expected of one group of people– mothers.  Items include: vacuum cleaner, board games, car keys, broom and mop, pots and pans, toothbrushes, crayons and much, much more.

Mother The Job – Artist Website

Some of our past ‘virtual’ online exhibits have included:

Fe-Mail, curated by  Karen Arp-Sandel and Suzi Banks Baum - Spring, 2011

Sacred Feminine, curated by Polly Wood – Spring 2010

Seneca Falls, street exhibit with the Moms Of Rock & Roll’, curated by Lynn Barbuto – Spring 2009