The material maternal: feminist representations of motherhood by contemporary artist-mothers

This chapter analyzes a selection of contemporary autobiographically inspired depictions of pregnancy, birth, maternity, breastfeeding, and the postpartum period by artist-mothers. These include: feminist conceptual artist Mary Kelly’s ground-breaking Postpartum Document (1973-1979) that critically engaged with Lacanian theory to document the intersubjectivity of her relationship to her young son; French-American artist Louise Bourgeois’ exploration of family, maternity, trauma, and the unconscious in Maman (1999), The Destruction of the Father (1974), Pregnant Woman (2002/2003), and Do Not Abandon Me (1999); American photographer Catherine Opie’s arresting trilogy of self-portraits—Self-Portrait / Cutting (1993), Self-Portrait / Pervert (1994), and Self-Portrait / Nursing (2004)—that portray queer domestic life; Jamaican-American artist Renee Cox’s critical reappropriation of Western art-historical iconography in her commanding portrayal of Black motherhood in The Yo Mama (1993), Yo Mama at Home (1992), and Yo Mama’s Pietà (1996); and Miami-based artist Naaja Moon’s celebration of the matriarch in her 2021 sculpture Your Mommas Voice in the Back of Your Head.