LENTOS KUNSTMUSEUM LINZ / AUSTRIA
MOTHER OF THE YEAR - BETWEEN EMPOWERMENT
AND CRISIS: IMAGES OF MOTHERHOOD FROM
1900 TO TODAY
23 OCTOBER 2015 - 21 FEBRUARY 2016
Super mom or childless? It almost looks as if there were no such thing any longer as motherhood pure and simple, as
if all that is left is the choice between perfectionism and resignation. Nevertheless, motherhood has many aspects: joy,
an intense experience of life, love relationship, learning, exultation, on one hand, and, on the other, frustration, being
weighed down by expectations and the fear of being inadequate to the task. Until the 19th century motherhood was
never called into question even if in actual reality the rewards often fell woefully short of projected ideals. It was only
the advent of career openings for women that created alternatives to motherhood as a fulfilled life.
Pregnancy, birth, abortion, life with children, the decision against children, the struggle of children with their mothers –
all these themes have their place in art. Nor did we have to wait for 1960s feminist art to produce realistic portrayals of
the mother’s role but fi nd renderings of social reality and individual conflicts already as early as the beginning of the
20th century.
The exhibition showcases not only shifts in the stereotypes of motherhood from 1900 to today but also the changes in
the perspective from which children see their mothers. It calls into question the optimisation logic of today’s life designs
and nurtures the hope of change: an ever greater number of women with children opt out of the complex, often stressful
regime of everyday life, refusing to accept their life world between career, children and consumption as preordained or
God-given.
Curators: Sabine Fellner, Elisabeth Nowak-Thaller and Stella Rollig
Exhibition Design: Silvia Merlo
NUCLEUS OF THE STATE 29 / KEIMZELLE DES STAATES 29 / Uli Aigner 2004 / 190 x 167 cm / Buntstift auf Papier
