MATERNAL FANTASIES
Collective based in Berlin, Germany
Wreckage, 2018
Photography
MATERNAL FANTASIES is an interdisciplinary group of international artists and cultural producers. They shape the discourse on motherhood through collective artistic processes by enhancing the visibility of contemporary feminist positions addressing motherhood(s) in the arts. From writing autobiographical responses to classic feminist texts to devising performances using children’s games, their art practice favours inclusive community-oriented experiments as alternatives to traditional structures of art production. Bridging theory and practice, their strategy transforms research on motherhood(s), care work and representation in the arts into frameworks for immersive modes of critique.
Wreckage is part of a series of staged photographs produced during MATERNAL FANTASIES's Landpartie 01 residency at betOnest, Angermünde, Germany. The site of a former cement factory becomes a temporary location for filming and action - a rehearsal stage for the group’s first artistic collaboration. A set of rules collectively defined in advance inspires and structures the artistic working process, involving a varying number of group members and children. The scenes, reminiscent of ‘Tableaux Vivants’, are staged by alternating directors with an ensemble of their choice in various locations on the vast terrain. The positioning of the protagonists and the staging of a scene oscillates between art historical references from classical paintings to playful improvisations by the mother-child ensemble. Props made with the children - phallic body extensions and concealing masks - are intuitively included, interpreted and modified. The children „Freeze Game“, similar to stop dancing, becomes an artistic method, a photographic and cinematographic strategy. This scene of a shipwreck becomes a parable for the often existentially threatening situation of working mothers.