The Absurdity of Pregnancy and Motherhood
In my project, The Absurdity of Pregnancy and Motherhood, I am questioning the implicit societal, materialist, and gender norms that broadly shape the lives of women within an American consumerist context. Employing the languages of conceptual, documentary, and typological photography, I have created docu-stages scenes within my own home to craft a personal narrative of maternity and parenthood that holds widespread implications for families. My work peels back the romanticism that surrounds pregnancy and motherhood to reveal the abject – the messiness and physicality of human life, often considered private and unmentionable.
Woven through the overarching narrative of this project, which begins with a birth announcement and continues through the “fourth” trimester (the 12-week period immediately following the birth), I interspersed investigative vignettes among a series of self-portraits and still life images. These typological studies act as markers, reminding the viewer of the realities of daily life with a new child, and include, manifestations of spit-up on clothing, the diverse shapes of filled diapers, and the countless iterations of commercial products manufactured for babies. Implied within the series are my own observations of the ways in which the expectations of pregnancy and motherhood – formed through exposure to social media and parenting groups, to advertising campaigns, and to culture at large – do not prepare one for the realities, and absurdities of pregnancy and motherhood.
Throughout the project, using farce and exaggeration, I satirizes and name these absurdities and norms, presenting them as obstacles that occupy the physical and mental space required for human life, activity, and identification of self. My work makes the implied explicit. Within otherwise typical domestic scenes and spaces, based in the reality of daily life, I introduce elements of the surreal to highlight and exaggerate the typically unspoken expectations of consumerism, gender, and social conformance and performance. The surrealist tropes include an over-abundance of consumer goods filling a home, and the comical disparity between the amount of space occupied by a new baby and that occupied by all of its things. I have strategically included clinical language and imagery regarding gender to reflect and call out society’s reductionist use of color – blue and pink – to signify the complexity of gender identities. Through my work, I allow the viewer to engage directly and openly with the imposed structures, rhythms, and expectations that are typically unconsidered and unseen. The viewer is led to question their own complicity and reinforcement within these systems, and to consider how much mental and physical space these absurdities have unconsciously taken up in their own life.
Pregnancy Announcement
Here’s a stick that has my pee on it and a picture of inside my uterus for your enjoyment.
Gender Reveal Party
Let’s have a party to celebrate my unborn baby’s genitals as decided by DNA.
Custom Cake
$75
Social Media Announcement
No forests, animals or humans were harmed in the making of this announcement.
I’m Having a Baby So Buy Me Things
Kids Already Live Here
When was the last time anyone played with this stuff?
$ I don’t even want to know.
No Loose Blankets in the Crib
I Didn’t make it to the Field at Golden Hour Because I Had to Do Laundry
$1,000 hypothetical maternity photo session.
$7.45 three loads of laundry.
Before
Unplug the Cords if You Want to Walk Around
12 hours Later We Both Have a Diaper
$33,149.53 billed to insurance.
Recovery Supplies
Back is Best But …
…will she sleep in there? No.
$421
After
Still uncomfortable but with no pillows or blankets this time.
Still No Loose Blankets in the Crib
31 store bought, $248.
Eight from the hospital.
15 handmade, minimum 252 hours.
Bottles and Pacifiers My Baby Won’t Take
$ 324
Breastfeeding Paraphernalia
What do you need to breastfeed successfully?
$304
Reflux
93 Days and 652 Diapers
$225
Keep Her Head Warm
$60
Fashion
Baby doesn’t leave the house.
$636
Seats Not Taken
13 baby stations; only wants to be held.
$1,567
Bathroom Party
Average shower time is five minutes. Hair always in the drain. Someone always crying.
My Closet is Still Waiting for Me to Bounce Back
78 Pairs of pants. Sizes 0-12. Keeping them all just in case.
Spam Me With the Best Baby Gear
The more stuff you have, the happier your baby is.
$4,549 and counting.