According to Bo-Jo we’re just over two months away from having all social restrictions lifted, and we’re tentatively looking forward to a life of ‘normality’ (whatever that really means). By the time the 21st June arrives we’ll have been living in constraints for just under a year and a half.
Some mothers have given birth in this time and their babies, now toddling around, have only known a world of masked faces and social-distancing. Some of us have lost loved ones. Some of us have had lives flipped completely upside-down, and some of us have found peace in the forced isolation. This huge life event will stay with us all for the rest of our lives for many different reasons.
Since November I’ve been working with a group of mothers all over the UK, via zoom, whatsapp and also through Instagram, and together we’ve been using photographs, words and other mixed-media to create a document of our experiences of motherhood during this time. The act of documenting and discussing has helped us to try and make sense of our experiences.
Along the way the group of women have tackled created mini-tasks, and collected images and words. As we edge closer to our final self-initiated’ project, our concluding act will be to produce a ‘zine’ of the work which will act as an archive of this time. Any mother can contribute to this zine, and anything can be submitted. As long as it’s something that reflects on #motherslifeinlockdown.
Submissions to the zine can be any of the work from the mini-tasks so far, or it can be a written piece illustrated with images from the last year, or it can be new images created specifically for the magazine, it can be old images and written reflections/responses, or it can be a collection of images or just one image.
Or, if you’d like a prompt, you can answer these questions from www.the-mothers.co.uk and submit an image or images to accompany:
What were your initial thoughts about how lockdown would affect you (back in March last year)?
What was the reality of the first lockdown for you?
Have things changed over time for you as the restrictions have been eased and toughened?
Have there been easy/positive aspects of lockdown?
Have there been difficult/negative aspects of lockdown?
(If relevant) Has your work been affected?
What has helped you get through lockdown?
Have you learnt anything, during lockdown, that you will want carry forward as it is eased? Are there things that you might even miss?
This zine will act as a document for the future, and a record of what mothers experienced during this time.
The deadline for submissions is May 31st 2021. All images should be full size and high resolution. Please send submissions or questions to themothersphotos@gmail.com
The Mothers: Life in Lockdown 