Motherhood exhibition opens with over 100 artworks

Image caption, Curator Hettie Judah said she wanted to address how motherhood was often "overlooked" in the art world
  • Author, Shyamantha Asokan
  • Role, BBC News, West Midlands

A major exhibition about motherhood featuring more than 100 artworks has opened in Birmingham.

Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood will be at the Midlands Arts Centre from Saturday until 29 September as part of a UK tour.

It contains works by famous figures such as Dame Tracey Emin and the late Dame Paula Rego, as well as prominent artists from Birmingham and several countries around the world.

“[It’s about] righting a wrong that I saw – a subject that was overlooked or marginalised,” said Hettie Judah, the exhibition’s curator.

Ms Judah had the idea for the show in 2020 after conducting a research project about artists who were mothers.

Image source, Lisa Whiting, courtesy of Arnolfini and Hayward Gallery Touring

Image caption, The exhibition features work by more than 60 artists, including tapestries by the Malawian artist Billie Zangewa

“[The research showed] that, once you become a mother, there are many ways in which the art world is quite exclusionary,” Ms Judah said.

She therefore decided to curate an exhibition to show that motherhood could in fact be a source of “extremely powerful art”.

The resulting exhibition, organised by Hayward Gallery Touring, features works by more than 60 artists from the late 1960s to the present day, and aimed to cover a wide range of mothers’ experiences.

Visitors will be able to see silk tapestries by the Malawian artist Billie Zangewa, inspired by her role as a single mother, as well as photos by the French artist Anna Grevenitis, which show her raising a daughter with Down's syndrome.

The show also includes work by Birmingham-based Barbara Walker, who was nominated for a Turner Prize last year, and pieces about abortion rights by Dame Tracey and Dame Paula.

Image source, Anna Grevenitis

Image caption, The show includes Anna Grevenitis' photography series about her experiences as a mother

A number of projects are trying to address the barriers that artist-mothers face, both by showcasing their work and helping with practical issues such as childcare.

These include Mothers Who Make, an international movement which provides peer support and has had a Coventry hub since 2019.

Image caption, Su Richardson, a Birmingham-based artist featured in the exhibition, said such shows were “vital”

The exhibition which opened in Bristol in March will next travel to Sheffield and Dundee.

Su Richardson, another Birmingham-based artist whose work is featured, said such shows were “vital” for ensuring female artists were not overlooked.

Ms Richardson, who was part of the Birmingham Women’s Art Group and other feminist art collectives in the 1970s, will be exhibiting a wall hanging inspired by a friend who she said had to give her baby up for adoption in the 1960s.

“Being a mother is part of the reason why women are hidden as artists,” she said.

“So it's just vital, really, that you get some kind of showcase.”

Follow BBC Birmingham on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk