The journey into motherhood is often told with a positive spin, like when you say your child hasn’t slept for months (or since hey where born) and others say ‘oh but it’ll be worth it when you see their first smile’ or the unsympathetic’welcome to motherhood’ regardless of how you became a mother or your current mother status, if you have 1 child, multiple, none on this earth or multiple generations… this painting is for you!
Motherhood is a journey like no other, an odyssey of transformation that reshapes the very core of a woman's identity. In 2020, as the world grappled with the inhuman isolation brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the experience of becoming a mother took on new, profound dimensions. For many women, this was a time when the boundaries of the self blurred and expanded in ways they had never imagined, leading to a deep sense of loss of one’s self.
As the world outside fell silent, the inner world of new mothers grew louder with the demands of a tiny, fragile life. Isolation from loved ones, friends, and support networks meant that the early days of motherhood were marked by a solitude that was both physically and emotionally intense. It was a time when every waking moment was consumed by the needs of a newborn, and every inch of personal space seemed to dissolve into the ceaseless rhythms of feeding, comforting, and nurturing within the same 4 walls, time merged into one long repeating hour... Life stopped! the long pause causing a death of the old life, life before children with outings and friends... a mother stripped back to a mere human being existing to make life flourish.
In the midst of this profound giving, there lies a poignant paradox: the more a mother gives, the more she seems to lose parts of herself. Hobbies, career aspirations, social connections, and even the simple pleasures of self-care often take a backseat.
The journey into motherhood at any time but especially in the shadow of a global pandemic, is a testament to the incredible capacity for endurance and recovery that lies within every woman. It is a path where the essence of self is completely surrendered! A women completely changes, her body, mind, feelings, priorities and that after she has endured the birth process and brought life into this world after growing it and protecting it for 9 months prior. Recovery can take months physically and years mentally and a life time to regain a sense of self.
This painting is about what it takes for a mother to bring life into the world, the mother is black and white because she has given everything there is to her new baby, stripped her back to a blank canvas and seen a death of the women she once was. Life continues to flourish around her because that's what she does...! she creates life in all its wonderful colours but the sacrifices she goes through to do that are unfathomable.
A mother gives everything she possible can, and more!
Perhaps its my experience or maybe other mums can relate but this painting is for all the mums out there! every single one! To acknowledge the self sacrifice and specifically those new mums of 2020 lockdowns that did all of it alone without support and in solitary confinement for nearly the whole year! I have some demons to work through from this time and im sure im not the only one so this painting is also showing the brighter side is around the corner.... light can beat the shadows! We just need to find the light switch! so even though motherhood is a rocky road and a death of a women, its also a birth of a new mother.... A mother will also be born on the birthday of her first born child. This painting depicts the transformation from a woman into a mother….
My next wonder is: does the mother ever get to be in full colour again…?!…. Is she always giving herself to raising her children until they fly the nest and life changes yet again.
To all the mothers out there.... your not alone and your AMAZING!!
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