Motherhood: A Visualization of Internal Tension

Artists and designers have been portraying mothers and motherhood for centuries. Many of these portrayals are expressed from the lens of a child to the mother or the artist's love for their mother; the idea of 'motherly love.' Fewer depict the polarity of emotions and experiences of being a mother. Motherhood could be said to be a world of contrasting ideas, thoughts, and experiences. Every mother experiences motherhood differently. However, when confronted with the reality of motherhood new mothers are left to either accept their experiences or reject them and try to have the 'ideal' that is portrayed in mainstream media. The purpose of this design was to conceptualize the internal struggle and joys that mothers may feel during motherhood coupled with the society's idealized notions of motherhood.