BUURTLICHT

forgotten





Labor

This series of ink drawings is inspired by “hidden mother photography” of the Victorian era. This genre of photography was born out of a problem we still have today; making your children stay still for a picture. In the Victorian era the problem was bigger due to the long exposure time that photography during this era required. The solution was to include the mother in the picture to keep the children calm. Yet, she was not really part of the picture, so she was often covered lazily to still have the result be a picture of just your children.

These pictures would not be possible without the women concealed in them to keep the children calm. Still, without ceremony, she is covered. Just like this Victorian issue with photography still existing, we still cover much work done by women. Unpaid, unappreciated labor, provided by women. Women still do most housework and child rearing, despite the dramatic increase in paid labor by women. In two-income households, a father is still celebrated for caring for his child and doing basic household chores while a mother is still carelessly covered while she holds the children still for that perfect shot.

The needle and thread, traditionally a woman's weapon to yield. Tedious, slow, skill intensive work that throughout history has not been much appreciated. In these pieces, the faces of the children are sloppily covered, as the faces of the mothers have. A defiance within traditional women's tools which says “I will pick up the needle, but now for myself”. The covering of the children's faces is not meant as a sign that they are not important but rather to highlight the importance of the mother, who we probably have no memory of, let alone pictures of in the current day and to highlight the irony of covering these women in the first place.

The other pieces presented at Buurtlicht are works made in diverse ways. They were made in the period from 2020-2024. Although not connected, the beginning and ending image in this series, are both self portraits. The first made very recently in 2024 and the last made in 2020, the oldest piece in de series.