‚Mamma‘
‚Mamma‘ (lat. ‚female breast‘; also the call of a toddler for its mother) was created internationally in collaboration with mothers and their children.
The taboo of extended breastfeeding and sexualization of the female breast act as a paradigm for social norms that are artificially imposed on a natural process.
Mothers are constantly being socially evaluated and judged. Whether a woman chooses to breastfeed her child for six months or six years is a matter that ideally is negotiated only between the two of them.
The reality is very different, though. The female breast is never private, but always too small, too big, a cleavage too deep or too buttoned-up. Similarly, when a mother nurses her child, she is often scrutinized and commented on. ‚Are you never going to stop?‘ , ‚You can’t seem to let go!‘ or ‚The kid is old enough to chew a steak!‘ are among the phrases that I heard myself when I breastfed my own children.
Behind these comments lies the widespread opinion that nursing a baby should be done with quickly so that the breast is free again – for men.
These portraits shed light on the viewpoint of patriarchal society and ask how people in Western culture can resist the reproduction of the ‚male gaze‘.