Exploring Womanhood

Exploring Womanhood July 11, 2009


I love these creations by Betsy Timmer. She uses textiles, felted wool, and household objects like broom bottoms and irons and finds a place where woman and daily objects meet. The second image is my favorite. It’s called M. O. M. It stunned me, with how naturally the life jacket became breasts. I do like the image of mother as life jacket. We save our children, keep them afloat artificially until they can do it for themselves.

I think a lot about my own relationship to the archetype of motherhood, my own insecurity as a mother, particularly as a stay at home mother. I wonder how many mothers these days spend their time ironing and sweeping? I don’t think many, and yet somehow, those objects stand for motherhood in a way that a hairdryer or a toy wouldn’t, though I would argue that both are far more likely to be in a woman’s hands than an iron. Our symbology of mother lags behind the reality. In the past the archetypal mother carried the distaff, to make thread for the fabric that clothed her family. Maybe in the future the archetypal mother will carry a bottle, or a sling, or a really big diaper bag.


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