Persistence of Mothering
Persistence of Mothering, M.A.M.A. (Lisa Mann, Lisa Schoyer, Karen Schwenkmeyer), 2015, laser-printed paper and rubber bands, placed in self-help parenting books at the Pasadena Public Library for the exhibition, “Shelved Art 2: Real Art in Real Books for Real Library Lovers”, organized by NewTown. A thaumatrope depicting a woman and/or mother on one side and a birdcage on the other. Spin it, and the two images combine through persistence of vision. They were hidden inside the pages of self-help parenting library books in solidarity with parents seeking guidance.
ABOUT:
We have been collaborating on and off as M.A.M.A since our children were toddlers. When we became mothers of adolescents, we turned our attention to the enormous amount of literature aimed at parents who may be desperate for solutions to navigate the dangerous waters and risky behavior of older children. Although these books may offer solace for some, we felt it was important to ask questions about their existence and the larger role that they play in American society. The target audience for these books being gendered, we considered the heavy burden and responsibility that mothers face in raising children, often with little positive support from society at large.
A thaumatrope is a pre-cinematic optical device with a separate image on either side of a single card. When twisting the card rapidly, the two images superimpose to create a single image. This mental perception is known as the "persistence of vision" phenomenon, and is commonly believed to be the principal behind the art of animation. An early thaumatrope depicts a cage on one side and a bird on the other, blending into a single image of a caged bird.
For the NewTown "Shelved Art 2" commission, M.A.M.A. designed and placed 100 thaumatropes inside a cross-section of parenting advice books in the Pasadena Public Library. Our thaumatrope, "Persistence of Mothering", features a silhouette of a woman shrugging and a cage. These two separate images blend to create other meanings: the bad mother locked up; the mother domesticated by the pressure to conform to prescribed social norms; the mother trapped by the marketing strategies of the big business of parenting.
We began with the question, “Who benefits from it being our fault?” The "it" can be defined as any presumed parenting deficiency or the outcome of this deficiency, namely, the adolescent's "problematic" behavior. The "our" refers to all mothers who are blamed by society for their misbehaving teens. (Kids are too violent? It's our fault for letting them play video games. Kids are too anxious? It's our fault for helicopter-parenting.)
Our hope is that as readers discover the thaumatropes within the pages of these advice books, they will be motivated to question why it is in the best interest of the authors and publishers to keep them in their place of inadequacy. After all, the never-ending cycle of blame and self-doubt of "bad parenting" sustains the supply, demand, and profits for these books.
