Comfort Zones, digital project at Wolverhampton University Residency, 2005
Featuring portraits of mothers Polly Hudson, Raj Saunders, Alison O’Neill, Helen Batterley, Raine Beaumont-Brandon, and Verity Waite, documenting their relationship with objects that give them comfort.
Dealing with the myth of a satisfying symbiosis of the mother-child dyad, this project challenges the convenient belief in the complimentary needs, of mothers, and children. Whilst ‘mother-love…is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health’ (Rutter, 1972) mothers often suffer from mental and physical exigencies that lead to issues for the mother – and the child.
I asked mothers who comforts them, and where they turn for comfort, pleasure and space. The resulting composite image intentionally deals with individuation, selfhood and resistance against female stereotyping and representations of mothers. The work was shown at Wolverhampton alongside the film Out with Mother.
View more projects that explore our relationships with objects.