Hester Jones — Keep Still, Look Left Look Right.

Keep Still, Look Left Look Right. From the series CALL YOURSELF A MOTHER, 2009. These two images come from a series of portraits, which examines the ambivalent feelings and fantasies many mothers experience towards their children. The work unsettles idealized romantic portrayals of motherhood as found in Media and more traditional forms of representation. "You do not have to be clever, and you do not even have to think if you do not want to" in order to be a “good enough” mother. D.W. Winnicott. Mothers often suppress these negative feelings, so they are not demonized by society. They can feel persecutory guilt, frustration and maternal depression, striving to live up to the glorified cultural fantasy of maternal “at-oneness”. (Parker 1995). Each photograph becomes a psychic space for performance in which various mothers act out feelings and fantasies of ambivalence for the camera. Referencing the Madonna and Child in Western Art, the portraits are cropped to focus on the mother’s hand and breast, so the loving gaze of the mother is disrupted. With this gaze removed from the viewer's inspection, the conventional portrait is overturned, and each woman’s expression is undetermined. The viewer is thus invited to question the mother’s identity in today’s society. Since the subjects remain anonymous, they cannot be accused of being bad mothers. The dark background resonates with the dark thoughts and fantasies that emerge from the mother's mind, emphasized by the play between light and dark. The negative space acts as a balancing element, highlighting the action, tension and drama of the hands. My goal is to show a view of motherhood that is only seen behind closed doors. These are feelings that all mothers possess, but rarely publicly show.

Hester Jones is a British artist born 1973. She obtained a Pg Cert Photography at Central St Martins 2007, followed by a MA Photography at London College of Communication 2009. Her work is an ongoing investigation into idealized romantic representations of the feminine, and culturally constructed gendered identities; from childhood to adolescence, motherhood, and beyond. She is fascinated by the psyche, and interested in the performative and participatory qualities of photography. Exhibitions and projects have included solo and group shows at Curzon Cinema Soho, 2008, Slidenite (Krakow Photomonth 2009), Home Truths (Brighton Photo Fringe 2010), and Woman as Photographer: Picturing Life as a Woman (Mpls Photo Center Minneapolis 2011). She was the recipient of the Westminster Arts Photography Bursary Award 2007, and selected in 2010 with five other artists to participate in a pioneering programme, Resonate, led by Westminster Arts and NHS, to help improve the lives of people with mental health problems including dementia. She is currently working on a new project, being organized by Kerrie O'Connell and Dr Emma Rich (www.emmarich.co.nr), which is intended for The Art and Health exhibition to held at Bath Royal Science and Literacy Institution in September 2011. Hester's new work will investigate the negative relationships children and young women have to their own bodies, and be an interpretation of scientific researches carried out by Dr Emma Rich et al.