I became a mother is a personal journey into a universal female experience of metamorphosis, evolution, and recovery. Since becoming a parent in early 2022, my work has been exploring the themes of birth and motherhood through personal reflections. I turned to this subject because photographing my daughter became the only opportunity for a creative output during this time. However, the work soon transcended the immediate function of the family album revealing lesser-known sides of mothering. This work reconsiders the conventional representation the mother, reframing birth, and motherhood as a journey down the mythical well as part of a feminine initiation.
Motherhood, with its intense physical and emotional extremes, is a crucible in which we are tested and altered. In the alchemical vessel of motherhood, the heat is turned up high. Outdated parts of our personality are melted away, and new structures are forged. Motherhood is a dizzying high-wire act, a masquerade, and a communion with mortality. It is a falling from and finding of grace, a falling in and out of love, and heartache by the hour. Motherhood is the ultimate confrontation with yourself. Whatever is there to discover at the bottom of your soul, whether dross or treasure, motherhood will help you find it.
Lisa Marchiano, MOTHERHOOD Facing and Finding Yourself, (2021)