J. Sybylla Smith, In Conversation with Karni Arieli
Episode #57, Summary
Women and non-binary mamas share the light and dark moments of parenthood in Eye Mama: Poetic Truths of Home and Motherhood.
Episode Notes
This book forms a collective reframing of the realities of motherhood beyond the mythologized patriarchal gaze. A global array of photographer mothers document, with bold authenticity, the carrying and caring of a human—the feral and relentlessness share space with the heart-exploding wonder and joy—all seen and shared through the eyes of those who experience it.
In this conversation, Karni Arieli discusses, among other things:
Photographer mothers using the camera to document their reality
Confronting the monumental occupation that is motherhood
Managing the duality of identities as a mother/artist
The politicization of the personal
Feeling from the outside of your skin
The synergy of interconnectivity and the strength of collaboration
Forming a visibility chain
Flipping the narratives
Righting misconceptions
Managing expectations
Love and sisterhood
Not endorsing motherhood, but endorsing choice
Referenced in the episode
Eye Mama Project Photo Gallery, Photo Vogue
“The collective project EYE MAMA shines a light on motherhood in the lockdown,” Vogue
“Stress, love, joy—what mothers photographed during the pandemic,” National Geographic
“Eye Mama Project—intimate insights into motherhood,” Stern
“Ukranian & Russian Mothers Are Sharing Photos, Hoping For Peace,” Romper
“Photography project Eye Mama captures motherhood during the pandemic,” Creative Review
The Shape of Sex by Leah DeVun
I Couldn’t Love You More by Esther Freud
Reframing Motherhood by Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang
She Never Rode That Trishaw Again by Sim Chi Yin
(M)otherhood: On the choices of being a woman by Pragya Agarwal
Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change by Angela Garbes
Women Without Kids by Ruby Warrington
Milk Art Journal, Vol. 1: Chores & Transcendence edited by Katherine Oktober Matthews
The Baby on the fire escape: Creativity, Motherhood and the Mind-Baby Problem by Julie Phillips
Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births by Michelle Millar Fisher & Amber Winick
Home Truths: Photography and Motherhood, edited by Susan Bright
How Not to Exclude Artist Mothers (and other parents) by Hettie Judah