MOTHER
Artwork Labels & Didactics

Exhibition Introduction

The depiction of mother and child is one of the oldest and most enduring subjects in the history of art. Across time and cultures, artists have turned to motherhood to grapple with questions of creation, care, power, loss and identity. Expressions of mothering and being mothered are multifaceted and diverse. Rather than static experiences, they are shaped by love and labour, expectation and resistance, joy and grief – remembering, too, that ‘mother’ is not only a noun, but also a verb.

MOTHER brings together over 200 works from the NGV Collection to examine the many, often contradictory, experiences and representations of motherhood. Spanning ancient iconography and historical European art, to contemporary Australian, First Nations and international practices, works in the exhibition traverse tenderness and trauma, mythology and lived experience, private transformation and public judgement. Motherhood is expressed as both an intimate relationship and as a social role that is influenced by gender, race, sexuality, colonialism, faith and power.

MOTHER traces the maternal journey through three overarching chapters: Creating, Giving and Leaving, exploring the becoming of a mother, the labour of care and feeding, the pressures of idealisation and the making of magic, as well as the ways mothers have been rendered visible or invisible across history. Some works reckon with loss and separation, while others reflect on the cultural, emotional and creative inheritance passed from one generation to the next.

Together, the works in MOTHER reveal motherhood as a complex, transformative force, inviting reflection on its joys, challenges and legacies.

Birth of a mother

Matrescence, the process of becoming a mother, describes the profound developmental, psychological and social transformation experienced through pregnancy and birth, surrogacy or adoption, extending into the postnatal period and beyond. This room traces a shift from the creation of life to the creation of the mother through works addressing fertility, conception, pregnancy, birth and adoption.

The Virgin Mary, an iconic subject in Western art history and of the Christian religious tradition, is one of its most influential maternal archetypes and has shaped ideals of femininity on a global scale for millennia, associating the image of the mother with purity, obedience and maternal devotion. These Christian narratives were posed as universal in colonial Australia, used to judge, reform and control women’s bodies. In post-colonial discourse, these themes are widely challenged by other perspectives, including First Nations beliefs and practices surrounding conception, birth and care.

Together, these works unsettle fixed ideas of origin and maternal destiny. Instead, motherhood emerges as a complex, lived process, shaped by both personal experiences and broader societal circumstances.

Left to right:

Elizabeth Djutarra

Ramingining 1938–

Nganiyal (Conical mat)

1998

pandanus fibre, vegetable dyes

Purchased, 1999
1999.14

Nganiyal (Conical mat)

1998

pandanus fibre, vegetable dyes

Purchased, 1999
1999.15

Nganiyal (Conical mat)

1998

pandanus fibre, vegetable dyes

Purchased, 1999
1999.13

Elizabeth Djutarra’s conical mats reference her mother’s Dreaming, the Djang’kawu Sisters. At the beginning of time the Sisters, two spirit women, travelled from east to west across the land, giving birth to the first people. On the Sisters’ journey, they carried conical mats containing sacred objects, which they gave to human beings to use in everyday life. The conical mat takes the form of a broad, basket-like structure, well suited to use as a protective enclosure for children or as a secluded space for women during menstruation. Traditionally, it could also be flattened into a triangular configuration, worn hanging in front of a woman’s body throughout pregnancy. Its shape, mirroring female reproductive anatomy, reflects the deeper significance of the mat as a metaphoric ‘container of life’, reflected by the Yolŋu Matha term nganmarra, meaning ‘womb.’

Giovanni Toscani

Italian 1370/80–1430

Madonna and Child

early 15th century

oil, tempera and gold leaf on wood panel

Bequest of Howard Spensley, 1939
557-4

Byzantine depictions of the Madonna and Child were highly stylised to emphasise Christ’s divine nature. In contrast, the influential Florentine painter Giotto (1266/7–1337) aimed to inspire devotion within viewers by foregrounding the human aspects of these religious figures. This painting by Giotto’s follower Giovanni Toscani closely mimics the popular Byzantine iconographic type known as the ‘Hodegetria’, in which the Virgin points toward the Christ Child as the source of humanity’s salvation. Traditionally, Christ is shown holding a scroll of Old Testament scriptures in his left hand. In keeping with Giotto’s emphasis on naturalism, Toscani’s infant Christ instead grasps his mother’s index finger in a distinctly baby-like manner – a detail that underscores the tender bond between mother and child.

David Mowaljarlai

Ngarinyin c. 1928–97

I am Banggal

1994

natural pigments on canvas

Presented through The Art Foundation of Victoria by Dr Tony Norton and Dr Jann Williams, Members, 1999
1999.47

In this work, Mowaljarlai depicts the story of his own conception, set at the mouth of a cave at twilight. In Ngarinyin belief across the Kimberley, the spirits of unborn children reside in powerful waterholes until they are discovered by their parents. The spirit then appears to the mother in a dream, calling out their own name before entering her womb. The pregnant woman instinctively recognises this totemic name, which she gives to the child at birth. While Mowaljarlai’s mother was sleeping, the spirit of a deceased male relative appeared to her in the form of a bat (banggal). The bat flew around her, landing on her body, declaring that his name was Banggal.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

French 1780–1867, worked in Italy 1806–24, 1835–41

Virgin of the Adoption

1858

oil on canvas

In honour of Professor Emeritus Sir Gustav Nossal AC, CBE, FAA, FRS, Chairman of The Felton Bequests’ Committee from 1975 to 2004. Felton Bequest, 2005
2005.164

This painting was not intended for public display and it is most likely to have been commissioned for private use by the collector Roland-Gosselin. Although there is no theological text specifically referring to a Virgin of the Adoption, the title of this painting, given by the artist himself, may hint at a commemorative occasion behind the request for the commission. On another level of interpretation, it may refer to the Virgin Mary adopting her son’s sacrifice of suffering for humanity.

Left to right, top to bottom:

Christine Godden

Australian 1947–

Untitled series

1974

2 gelatin silver photographs

Purchased from Admission Funds, 1991
PH12.1–2-1991

In the early seventies it was an exciting time for women in California. I lived in Marin County north of San Francisco. The idea of ‘our bodies, our selves’ was widespread and this included having more control over birthing than was available in the mainstream health system at that time. Women came to our area from other states to give birth because there were doctors there sympathetic to homebirths. The mother in these images, D., came to stay in our house, we became friends. I made many images of D. while she was pregnant and photographed the birth of her son on a sunny morning. A doctor and midwife attended, everything went smoothly, it was a joyous event. I made more images of D. and her baby thereafter, including the photograph of her reading a letter while breastfeeding, also in this exhibition.

– Christine Godden, 2025

China

Guanyin

Qing dynasty (1644–1912), Kangxi period (1662–1722) Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province

porcelain

Bequest of Howard Spensley, 1939
4301-D3

In Chinese tradition, Guanyin is known as the goddess of mercy and the ‘one who hears the sounds and the prayers of the world’. Originally represented as a male, Guanyin evolved into a female deity in many Asian cultures from around the 12th century. Devotees of Guanyin often furnish their homes with a small shrine, displaying a porcelain figure such as this one. Revered as a protector and provider of children in pre-modern China, Guanyin became especially venerated as the ‘Bestower of Sons,’ directly tied to the social and familial pressure on women in traditional Chinese society to produce a male heir. Placed here alongside a depiction of the Virgin Mary, together these figures illustrate how different cultures have envisioned compassionate, maternal divinity.

England, Staffordshire manufacturer

The Virgin and Child

c. 1800

earthenware

Bequest of Arthur Allen, 1968
1869-D5

Correggio

Italian 1489–1534

Madonna and Child with infant Saint John the Baptist

c. 1514–15

oil on wood panel

Purchased with funds donated by Andrew Sisson, 2011
2011.330

Bernardo Cavallino

Italian 1616 – c. 1656

The Virgin Annunciate

c. 1645–50

oil on canvas on wood panel

Felton Bequest, 1968
1829-5

Bernardo Cavallino was one of the most refined and poetic painters working in seventeenth-century Naples. However, very little is known about him due to a scarcity of documentary evidence. The Virgin Annunciate dates to Cavallino’s mature period in the second half of the 1640s. It would originally have been paired in an altarpiece with a painting of the Archangel Gabriel (now lost). The ray of light illuminating the Virgin’s face represents the Holy Spirit at the moment of Incarnation, when the Son of God was miraculously conceived as man.

Flanders

The Virgin and Child

mid – late 15th century

oil on wood panel

Felton Bequest, 1923
1275-3

Frame: F. A. Pollak, London, 1954

William Bell Scott etcher

English 1811–90

William Blake after

English 1757–1827

The Nativity

plate from William Blake: Etchings from his Work by William Bell Scott, published by Chatto & Windus, London, 1878

1875

etching on chine collé

Purchased, 1969
P31-1969

HJ Wedge

Wiradjuri 1957–2012

Immaculate conception – What hypocrisy! (Nun)

1992

synthetic polymer paint on plywood

Purchased with funds donated by Supporters and Patrons of Indigenous Art, 2006
2006.223

HJ (Harry) Wedge was born on the Erambie Mission, near Cowra, in central New South Wales. His practice draws on his experiences of mission life, particularly the impact of enforced Christianity on his upbringing and the lives of other Wiradjuri people in his community. While sexual violence, eugenic classifications of skin colour, and government-sanctioned removal of children from their families were widespread across Australian missions from the 1860s until the 1970s, notions of chastity and immaculate conception were simultaneously imposed on First Nations peoples in a nationwide attempt to erase indigeneity.

Kyra Mancktelow

Quandamooka/Mardigan 1997–

One continuous string

2021

natural fibre, flora from Quandamooka Country, metal

Purchased with funds donated by Linda Herd and the Canny Quine Foundation, 2024
2024.792

This is our Grannies’ dress that’s recreated and treated with traditional methods that were considered lost, questioning the perceived absence of continuing cultural practices. These methods also maintain traditions passed down generationally by the Moongalba Grannies.

– Kyra Mancktelow

This dress replicates the uniform Kyra Mancktelow’s Grannie was forced to wear while living at Moongalba (Myora) Mission on Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island). It is made using the weaving technique she passed on to the artist. Although traditional practices were forbidden on missions, Mancktelow’s Grannie embodied cultural resilience, continuing to practise and teach customs to younger generations. While picking native flowers with the mission children, she would whisper in language, away from the ears of officials, ensuring that cultural knowledge and practices continued to survive.

Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu

Gumatj 1945–2022

New generation

2021

earth pigments and recycled print toner on stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.)

Purchased with funds donated by Barbara Hay and the Hay Family, 2021
2021.780

Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu was a highly respected Elder and artist based in Yirrkala in the Northern Territory. She was also the leader of a group of female healers, providing bush medicine to both Yolŋu and non-Indigenous people across the surrounding areas. Yunupiŋu’s paintings often depict the deeply personal story of her own conception. As a spirit child, Yunupiŋu existed as a mermaid, or yawkyawk, in a waterhole where her father would fish. One day, as Yunupiŋu was sunning herself on a rock, her father mistook her for a fish and speared her before she splashed back into the water. That night, the mermaid appeared to her father in a dream and announced to him that she was his daughter. The following morning, the man learned that his wife was pregnant.

Anniebell Marrngamarrnga

Kuninjku 1968–

Yawkyawk

2007

natural dyes on pandanus (Pandanus sp.) and bamboo

Gift of Mark Chapman, 2008
2008.276

In the Kuninjku language of Western Arnhem Land, yawkyawk means ‘young woman’ or ‘young woman spirit being.’ As feminine entities, yawkyawk are strongly connected with fertility, and their presence in waterways is believed to offer a powerful aid in conception. Much like non-Indigenous mythologies of mermaids, yawkyawk are usually represented as hybrid figures – female in form, with long hair, a scaled abdomen and the tail of a fish. Anniebell Marrngamarrnga learned to weave from her late mother, Nancy Djulumba, and many of her sculptures refer to the yawkyawk spirit said to live in a waterhole at Kubumi, near the Mann River. In this work, Marrngamarrnga depicts the yawkyawk as pregnant with twins, echoing the belief that women who swim in waterholes visited by yawkyawk may conceive twins or triplets.

Faye Toogood

English 1977–

Roly-Poly chair / Water

2016

lithium-barium crystal

artist’s proof

ed. 4/4

Purchased with funds donated by Gordon Moffatt AM, Cameron Oxley and Bronwyn Ross, Dr Brett Archer and Alex and Brady Scanlon, 2021
2020.771

The smooth and voluptuous shape of this chair draws influence from Faye Toogood’s personal experiences with pregnancy and motherhood. As Toogood describes, ‘I realised that it was inappropriate for me in my own home to design furniture with sharp corners. Everything had to be rounded; everything had to be “fall-off-able” and safe.’ The chair’s design combines soft edges, wide legs and rounded forms reminiscent of children’s toys. Initially sculpting small models of the chair in clay, Toogood then worked with a boat manufacturer to cast the final pieces in fiberglass, while this version has been created using luminous crystal glass.

England

Pregnancy ensemble

1790s

silk, linen, (wool), metal (fastenings), metal (boning)

Purchased, NGV Supporters of Fashion and Textiles, 2017
2017.169.a-d

This late-eighteenth century English-style dress is a rare surviving example of maternity wear, as gowns from this period were often recut to suit changing fashions. While it follows the fashionable silhouette of its time, the dress includes considerations for the various stages of pregnancy. Its short bodice allows padding to sit higher on the waist, creating the appearance of a narrow physique and helping the wearer to maintain a flattering line in the early stages of pregnancy. As her body changed, drawstring channels allowed her to adjust the fit of the dress as needed.

Asante people, Ghana, West Africa

Akua’ba figure

early 20th century

wood

Purchased, 1967
1493-D5

The term akua’ba (‘Akua’s child’) comes from an Akan legend about a woman named Akua, who was advised by a priest to commission a wooden child and care for it as if it were real in order to overcome infertility. After heeding this advice, Akua gave birth to a daughter. Other women subsequently adopted the practice, carrying similar figures to promote conception and maternal wellbeing. Traditionally, akua’ma (plural) represent an idealised female form as Asante society is matrilineal, and many mothers hope for a female child to continue the family line. Akua’ma figures typically feature elongated foreheads which signify wisdom, and ringed necks which denote prosperity and good health.

Fred Williams

Australian 1927–82, lived in England 1952–56

Willendorf Madonna

1955

pen and sepia ink

Gift of Lyn Williams AM and Family through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2022
2022.527

Discovered in 1908 near the Austrian village of Willendorf, the figurine depicted in Fred Williams’s drawing is one of the earliest known examples of human figurative sculpture, estimated to date back to around 30,000 years ago. Widely known as the Venus of Willendorf, it has also been poetically described as a ‘Madonna,’ positioning her as a prehistoric mother figure. Interpretations of the figure have shifted dramatically over the past century, ranging from a fertility idol to a mother goddess, and a male-crafted aphrodisiac to a form of female self-representation.

Katsushika Ōi

Japanese c. 1800 – c. 1866

Illustrated Handbook on Daily Life for Women
Eiri Nichiyo Onna Chōhōki

1847, Edo period (1603–1868)

woodblock printed book in case

Purchased with funds donated by The Hon Michael Watt and Cecilie Hall, 2021
2021.753

Katsushika Ōi, the daughter of the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), was an accomplished artist in her own right. Although only a few works are formally attributed to her, she is believed to have assisted with (or wholly created) many pieces credited to her father. Of the three books known to have been illustrated by Ōi, this publication is the most celebrated. Its subjects include women from various social classes engaged in everyday activities. Illustrated here are childbirth customs and the ten recognised months of pregnancy during the Edo period.

Donna Bailey

Australian 1963–

Lush

2002

type C photograph

Purchased with funds arranged by Loti Smorgon for Contemporary Australian Photography, 2006
2006.295

Donna Bailey started her career by photographing her teenage daughter Zoë, before expanding to a wider circle of children living in the central Victorian Goldfields, north-west of Melbourne. Water scarcity during Victoria’s Millennium Drought forced Bailey to abandon her home darkroom, marking a pivotal shift in her practice: formerly hand-printing black-and-white photographs, Bailey turned to medium-format colour film. This photograph depicts the daughters of Bailey’s lifelong friend and their friend Sarah, who was eight months pregnant at the time. Like Sarah, Bailey had also been a teenage mother.

Sarah sets the pace for the photograph. Her friends fall in around her. Sarah’s presence is powerful. She is completely at ease. Here, in the water and with her tight ball-shaped belly. In the act of being photographed she is completely unselfconscious, an agent in her own representation. She stands sure-footed in water that barely reaches her shins. Denim shorts sit just below her hips, allowing her beachball-shaped belly no limits. Sarah is shirtless but wears a fitted bra, her eyes look downward at the water and her mouth is set resolutely. This girl is not ambivalent; nor is the photograph a clichéd or romantic picture of an ambivalent pregnant girl and her friends. In our collaboration, myself (as photographer) and Sarah, Raquel and Rebekah (as models) give no thought to the idealising or moralising themes of representation like those you often see in contemporary documentary or social welfare imagery. Instead, our shared histories, our knowing and our belonging all come into play.

– Donna Bailey, 2011

Kate Just

American 1974–, Australia since 1996

An armour of hope

2012

metallic and silk yarn

Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2025
2025.672

The work An armour of hope strangely began the day I met Harper and shook his hand as a two-year-old joining our family for the first time. In that moment, I felt and saw an image of Harper in soft armour in my mind’s eye. I think I recognised the difficulty Harper had already been through but also noted a keen receptivity to new connections and bonds. As my adopted brother, Billy, had died some years before as a young person, I was also holding a sense of familial loss and defensiveness with a desire for hope.

The work was later developed on the Australia Council residency in Barcelona, which my wife Paula and Harper, then four years old, joined. We travelled to Madrid to visit the Prado. When I came upon the painting The sense of touch (1617–18) by Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder, the idea of armour as a metaphor returned. I was struck by the image in which both mother and child (woman and angel figure) are nude, surrounded by a world of adult male armour. The work prompted me to consider the ways in which women and children aren’t ‘entitled’ to armour or commonly seen to be ‘strong’. I then developed these works and the idea of soft armour as a way to communicate Harper’s and my own resilience and emotional strength.

– Kate Just, 2025

New acquisition

Kate Just

American 1974–, Australia since 1996

The arms of mother

2012

rayon (yarn), cotton (thread)

Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2025
2025.673

New acquisition

Milk

From the moment a baby comes into a parent’s life, feeding becomes a central preoccupation. Whether using and cleaning bottles, breastfeeding, expressing milk, or a combination of these approaches, nourishing an infant requires sustained effort. Statistics indicate that on average feeding takes up 1800 hours during the first year of a baby’s life – almost equivalent to a full-time, forty-hour-a-week job. Often this responsibility falls on the mother. While feeding can be a beautiful and intimate experience, the labour of feeding a baby is often accompanied by immense pressure and feelings of guilt and isolation.

In art history, depictions of breastfeeding appear as early as the prehistoric period and ancient Egypt. Virgo Lactans, the Virgin Mary nursing the Christ Child, was a common subject across Europe from the twelfth to the early sixteenth century CE, after which depictions of exposed breasts became increasingly regulated as modesty was enforced. From the late 1960s and 1970s, breastfeeding re-emerged as a topic in art and critical discourse, shaped by debates around reproductive work, care and women’s autonomy.

From devotional imagery to depictions of daily life, the works presented here trace infant feeding both as an intimate act and a form of labour, informed by social, cultural and historical forces.

Ann Newmarch

Australian 1945–2022

Colour me bold

1977

colour photo-stencil screenprint, crayon and coloured fibre-tipped pens

artist’s proof

Michell Endowment, 1978
DC12-1978

Ann Newmarch was a trailblazing feminist artist and a vocal member of the Progressive Art Movement (PAM), which emerged in South Australia in the 1970s. Early in her career, critics were dismissive of Newmarch’s exhibitions. The artist recalls being told that she would eventually fall in love and have children and that her work was therefore a poor investment. Railing against this misogynistic and limiting view of women, Newmarch’s work frequently portrays women in a wide range of roles, inclusive of but not limited to motherhood. In this screenprint, she reimagines the traditional Queen of Hearts playing card, transforming Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa – a quintessential symbol of male artistic genius – into a breastfeeding mother armed with an assortment of hand tools.

Greece, Attica or Italy manufacturer

Guttus (Greek black-glaze ware)

4th century BCE

earthenware

Purchased, 1933
3425F-D3

England, Staffordshire manufacturer

Feeding bottle

c. 1850

earthenware

Felton Bequest, 1939
4538-D3

Baby feeding bottles have been used for centuries, evolving as people sought safer ways to nourish infants. In antiquity, gutti were used to feed young children a variety of liquids, including animal milk, diluted wine or porridge-like mixtures. In ancient Greece, gutti also functioned as an early form of the modern breast pump. By the nineteenth century, ceramic feeding bottles were used when breastfeeding was not possible and wet nurses were unavailable, although hand-feeding at this time was still associated with poorer health outcomes for infants.

Fred Williams

Australian 1927–82, lived in England 1952–56

Feeding baby

1955–56

etching, aquatint and foul-bite

ed. 13/20

Presented through The Art Foundation of Victoria by Mrs Lyn Williams, Founder Benefactor, 1996
1996.638

Albrecht Dürer

German 1471–1528

The Madonna nursing

1519

engraving

Felton Bequest, 1956
3453-4

Albrecht Dürer

German 1471–1528

The Madonna on a grassy bank

1503

engraving

Felton Bequest, 1956
3451-4

Responding to the strong contemporary demand for Marian devotional imagery, Dürer produced eighteen different engravings of the Virgin and Child over the course of his career. This 1503 print marks the first time he depicted the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Christ Child, a motif he revisited with particular affection in later years. Here, the Virgin sits humbly on the ground as she cradles her infant son. The fence behind her suggests she resides within an enclosed garden, a traditional emblem of her purity.

Mithram

Indian active c. 1525–50

Folio from a Bhagavata Purana: Yashoda nursing the child Krishna

c. 1525–50

opaque watercolour on paper

Felton Bequest, 1976
AS26-1976

For kids

Krishna was a playful and loving child, known for his bright smile and curious nature. He grew up in the village of Gokul with his foster mother, Yashoda, who cared for him with great tenderness. Yashoda adored Krishna, even when he played cheeky tricks on her or snuck butter from the kitchen! She taught him kindness and protected him with all her heart. Their bond shows that love can grow strong between people, no matter how they come together.

Jan Saudek

Czech 1935–

The love

1973

from the Story from Czechoslovakia, My Country series 1965–75

gelatin silver photograph

Purchased, 1977
PH110-1977

Paul-César Helleu

French 1859–1927

Mother and child

c.1887–1906

coloured chalk

Felton Bequest, 1906
284-2

Paul-César Helleu

French 1859–1927

Motherhood
Maternité

c. 1887–1900

drypoint

Felton Bequest, 1927
3574-3

In this work, Paul-César Helleu portrays his wife, Alice Guérin, tenderly feeding their child. The print reflects shifting attitudes toward nursing in France. Prior to the eighteenth century, aristocratic children were largely raised by wet nurses and had little contact with their mothers during their early years. Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau promoted the idea that mothers should breastfeed and raise their own children, giving rise to the so-called ‘cult of true womanhood’ among upper-class French women. By the nineteenth century, the care and early moral education of children were increasingly considered to be the mother’s domain, and maternal nursing became fashionable among wealthy and middle-class women alike.

Tala Madani

Iranian 1981–, moved to United States 1994

Primer

2015

oil on canvas

Purchased NGV Foundation with the assistance of David Clouston and Michael Schwarz, 2017
2017.199

I’m mostly interested in art that excavates from the psyche – not the frontal lobe, not the intellectual, not the speakable, but the unspeakable.

– Tala Madani, 2021

Rich in narrative and irony, Tala Madani’s work depicts darkly comic and unsettling scenes that often feature bald, middle-aged men. This painting is from a 2015 series where the artist introduced the ubiquitous smiley face as a central motif. Critiquing power relations, Madani undermines the authority of men through her painted characters, poking fun at traditional ideas of masculine strength. Madani’s work upsets art-historical conventions, openly embracing caricature, gags and disarming visual simplicity.

Egypt

Isis suckling Horus

Late Period – Ptolemaic Period, 664–30 BCE

bronze

Gift of Mr P. Chaldjian, 1996
1996.459

According to Egyptian mythology, the gods ruled Egypt before the Pharaohs. Horus, son of the god Osiris and the goddess Isis, was the last divine ruler on earth, making Isis the symbolic mother of the Pharaohs. Revered as a protector and divine nurturer, Isis’s popularity grew significantly from the Late Period onward. Here, she is shown in human form nursing the infant Horus. This pose, known as the lactans pose, was the most popular representation of the goddess during this period.

Christine Godden

Australian 1947–

Untitled

1974, printed 1986

gelatin silver photograph

Purchased from Admission Funds, 1991
PH120-1991

Christine Godden

Australian 1947–

Untitled

c. 1972

gelatin silver photograph

Purchased from Admission Funds, 1991
PH87-1991

Italy

She-wolf

16th century

bronze

Bequest of Howard Spensley, 1939
4001-D3

John Perceval

Australian 1923–2000

Romulus suckling the wolf with Remus

1946

pencil

Purchased, 1977
P25-1977

According to Roman legend, Romulus and Remus were the sons of the god Mars and Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia. Fearing the newborn twins’ claim to the throne, their uncle, King Amulius, ordered them to be drowned in the Tiber River. Instead, they drifted to the future site of Rome, where a she-wolf – sacred to Mars – found the infants and nursed them. In this energetic drawing, John Perceval depicts the twins being suckled by the she-wolf. Fascinated by the bond between animals and people, Perceval was drawn to the tale of Romulus and Remus, returning to the subject several times in his art.

Baby bubble

The first days and weeks of motherhood are a period of profound change. For parents who are consumed by exhaustion, learning how to care for their child and cocooned in the scent and sweetness of a newborn, the outside world can begin to fade away. Together mother and child nest, getting to know one another as the mother adjusts to a newly altered sense of self. This period, often referred to as ‘the baby bubble’, can feel all-encompassing: a time of intense love, deep focus and fierce protection. For some, it is tender and absorbing; for others, the magnitude of change can bring anxiety and isolation.

Historically artists have portrayed idealised representations of the baby bubble, emphasising serenity and beauty, and frequently imagining it from the outside. Contemporary artists, by contrast, turn inwards, creating works based on their own lived experiences of motherhood. Katherine Hattam’s The pinch captures the pressure of the world bearing down on this fragile bubble, while Camille Henrot’s watercolours reflect the obsession and total absorption of early motherhood.

Across these works, the baby bubble emerges as a time of becoming: a moment when the maternal self briefly disappears before slowly re-emerging, reshaped through love, resilience and fierce devotion.

Frederick Walker

English 1840–75

The right of way

1875

oil on canvas

Purchased, 1891
p.395.3-1

Frame: original, maker unknown

Cornelis de Vos

Dutch/Flemish c. 1584–1651

Mother and child

1624

oil on wood panel

Purchased with funds donated by Alan and Mavourneen Cowen, Andrew Sisson, an anonymous donor and donors to the Cornelis de Vos Appeal, 2009
2009.2

As a young man, Cornelis de Vos collaborated with many of the leading Flemish artists of his time. His precocious talent was such that by the age of twenty he had mastered formal portraiture, securing commissions from Antwerp’s wealthiest burghers. In this painting, de Vos sensitively captures the informal relationship between mother and child. This refreshingly modern approach was regarded as a particular achievement of Flemish artists. The toddler clutches two handfuls of cherries – a Northern European symbol of sweetness and purity – paying no heed as some spill onto her mother’s sumptuous black dress.

Frame: reproduction, 2010, based on early 17th century Netherlandish frames

Maurice Denis

French 1870–1943

Visit to the purple room
Viste dans la chambre violette

1899

oil on canvas

Purchased with funds donated by Alan and Mary-Louise Archibald Foundation, 2024
2024.609

In this work, Maurice Denis depicts his wife, Marthe, receiving a visitor at home shortly after the birth of their daughter. The couple’s newborn, Bernadette, is cradled by Marthe’s friend Jeanne Mithouard, who is accompanied by her young son, Jacques. The soft pastel palette and chalky surface of the work deliberately evoke the aesthetic effect of Italian fresco paintings – an influence Denis absorbed during his 1895 trip to Italy. Marthe’s profile resembles that of a Fra Angelico Madonna, while Jacques recalls a cherubic angel.

Patricia Piccinini

Australian 1965–, born in Sierra Leone, lived in Italy 1968–72, Australia since 1972

Nest

2006

enamel paint on fibreglass, leather, plastic, metal, rubber, mirror, transparent synthetic polymer resin, glass

ed. 2/3

Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2006
2006.415.a-b

Nest continues my fascination in the ‘life cycles of technology.’ I am interested in exploring the tangled inter-relationship between the artificial and the natural by imagining the lives of machines beyond their usual ‘adult’ forms. The work presents the viewer with a family group of motor scooters; a mother watching over an infant. It takes its formal inspiration from the depiction of the nobility of animals, which can be seen from nineteenth-century paintings to present day documentaries. In doing so, Nest removes these prosaic vehicles from the industrial processes that usually define them and imagines them as part of the world of ‘wildlife,’ making them both more sympathetic and less easy to control. However, we might also see them as ‘domesticated animals,’ highlighting how the process of taming animals has transformed them from individual creatures into an aspect of the industrial process of modern farming. In each case, the idea of the interconnection of the artificial and the natural is easier to accept as a concept than the clearly fanciful mechanical organisms that I present. To me this really highlights the way that we still hang on to an idea of a definite boundary that surrounds the natural – even though it is clearly flexible we are not able to really say where it is.

– Patricia Piccinini, 2025

For kids

Patricia Piccinini’s art often shows unusual beings, who are gentle rather than scary. Her works invite us to think about caring for others and the many different shapes that families can have. They reminds us that everyone deserves comfort, care and connection.

A nest is a safe home where animals, especially birds, lay eggs and raise their babies. People can make nests too, like a soft pile of pillows that feel cozy and warm. Why do you think Patricia decided to call this artwork Nest?

J. & J. Kohn, Vienna manufacturer

Austrian est. 1850

Cradle

c. 1878

beech (Fagus sp.), bentwood

Presented by Miss A. M. Jeffery in memory of Rennie Simmons, 1974
D72-1974

The sinuous design of this cradle exemplifies the emerging Art Nouveau style that swept through Europe in the late nineteenth century. A protective fabric would have once hung from the vertical arm of the headboard to shelter the infant, while the interior would have been lined with soft linens and cushions. The cradle was produced using the then-new technique of steam-bending solid wood under high pressure – a process pioneered by Michael Thonet in 1857. Bentwood designs were inexpensive to produce and ideal for export: durable, lightweight and easily assembled after shipping. As a result, cradles manufactured by J. & J. Kohn could be found in both wealthy and middle-class homes across the continent.

England

Nursing day dress

c. 1845

roller printed wool, silk, cotton and metal (fastening)

Gift of Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Family through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2025
2025.583

During the Victorian era, medical and moral reformers promoted breastfeeding as a natural maternal duty, yet society expected it to take place discreetly and out of sight. Nursing dresses were often made from durable fabrics such as this rare roller-printed wool and featured vertical hemmed slits at the bodice, allowing mothers to feed their infants while remaining modest. The design of these garments reveals the period’s contradictory beliefs: motherhood was glorified, but the maternal body was expected to remain concealed and managed within the domestic sphere.

New acquisition

Margaret Rarru Garrawarra

Liyagawumirr 1940–

Bathi (Baby basket)

2015

pandanus (Pandanus sp.), natural dyes

Purchased NGV Foundation, 2017
2016.1042

Raised in Langarra on Howard Island, Margaret Rarru learnt weaving from her mother, continuing a lineage of fibre knowledge passed down through generations. This large bathi (basket), traditionally used to carry infants, is made using a tight, intricate coiling technique. Its striking black tones are achieved through a dyeing method Rarru developed herself, soaking pandanus fibres overnight with a local flat leaf to produce a deep charcoal-black finish. Both functional and beautiful, the work reflects the vital role of weaving in daily life and the transmission of cultural knowledge through maternal teaching.

Jamini Roy

Indian 1887–1972

Mother and son

1930s

watercolour on board

Purchased, 1973
AS9-1973

Jamini Roy studied European painting from the age of sixteen at the Kolkata Government College of Art and Craft. After graduating, he returned to his childhood village in West Bengal, where he drew inspiration from local folk art traditions. In this watercolour, a mother uses her sari to create a protective cocoon around her child, sheltering her baby from the elements. With its sweeping brushwork and absence of tonal modelling (light and dark shading), the work shows the strong influence of Kalighat painting, a style characterised by simplicity and boldness.

Olive Cotton

Australian 1911–2003

My daughter and grand-daughter

1971

gelatin silver photograph

Purchased, 1987
PH209-1987

E. Phillips Fox

Australian 1865–1915, lived in France 1887–92, 1901–13

(Mother and child)

1908

oil on canvas

The Joseph Brown Collection. Presented through the NGV Foundation by Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, Honorary Life Benefactor, 2004
2004.173

Paul Jacoulet

French 1896–1960, lived in Japan from 1906

The treasure, Korea
Le trésor corée

1940

colour woodblock

ed. 40/350

Purchased with funds donated by Vivienne Fried, 2022
2022.908

Paul Jacoulet moved to Japan as a young child, later training in Japanese painting before developing his distinctive woodblock-print style for which he is known. Over the course of his career, Jacoulet travelled widely across East Asia and the Pacific, producing some of his most famous portraits from studies made during his many trips to Korea between the 1930s and 50s. This work depicts a Korean mother in traditional hanbok costume, holding her child as he celebrates his first birthday, marked by the auspicious embroidered socks he wears. Created while Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, this image offers a poignant expression of universal love that stands in contrast to the political turmoil of the era.

Katherine Hattam

Australian 1950–

The pinch

2022

colour woodcut

ed. 11/15

Gift of Katherine Hattam in memory of Kate Hattam through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2025
2025.722

I must remind myself of the origins of my print titled The pinch. Perhaps this is because though that first image is so particular: of my mother leaning over the pram overlooking her children and one outlier, a friend. At the centre is the new baby; my brother ten years younger. We all touch him, other than the friend who secretly pinched my sister’s arm. That pinch speaks of all our ambivalence, intense love and jealousy. He is the focus, getting all the attention.

The starting point was a tiny black and white photograph sent to me by that childhood friend clearing up after her own mother’s death. I enlarged and cropped the image, leaving only our arms and that pinch all centred around the mother and new baby. I found myself thinking it was me as mother and my children, so that very particular image has general reach.

– Katherine Hattam, 2023

New acquisition

Camille Henrot

French 1978, lives in United States 2011–

Life span

2019

from the Systems of Attachment series 2019

watercolour

Purchased NGV Foundation, 2021
2021.646

Camille Henrot

French 1978, lives in United States 2011–

Carnivore

2019

from the Systems of Attachment series 2019

watercolour

Purchased NGV Foundation, 2021
2021.644

I think motherhood is still taboo in the art world unfortunately. It seems it’s changing though as we speak. A lot of artists from my generation are finding ways to have children while maintaining their careers and are also feeling the courage and boldness to address motherhood in their work …

The experiences and impressions of the early days of child rearing are very intense. What’s demanded of you is so extreme, it strips you of your own agency. The experience is so demanding – comparable to intense conflict or a drug addiction – either you get overly absorbed in it or you want to radically distance yourself from it. The idea of a balance or alternation of needs between caregiver and child is not impossible, but it is very difficult.

If you think that motherhood is a subject that only concerns child-bearing women, then you have understood nothing about psychoanalysis, death, sexuality, politics, anthropology, ecology, the origin of language, and the way society is built. There is a deep entanglement between the idea of parenting or caregiving and the responsibility we have as individuals towards the future, towards our communities, and towards our survival as humans. This is why the maternal is political.

– Camille Henrot, Mother Tongue, 2023

Grace Lock

Australian 1902–95

Mother and child

c. 1960s – 70s

gelatin silver photograph

Purchased, 1971
PH368-1971

Shirley Macnamara

Indjalandji-Dhidhanu/Alyawarr 1949–

Galah nest

2017

spinifex, Galah feathers, spinifex resin

Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2017
2017.443

George Browning

Australian 1918–2000

Marsupial mother

oil on paper on cardboard

Purchased, 1959
347-5

Michael Powolny designer

Austrian 1871–1954

Wiener Keramik, Vienna manufacturer

Austrian 1906–12

Madonna and Child

c. 1908

earthenware

Purchased, 1989
D13-1989

The internationalist tendencies often associated with modernism are a phenomenon of the post-Second World War period. In the early twentieth century, however, many Viennese modernists sought to develop a modern style that remained distinctly Austrian in character. Michael Powolny’s earthenware figure of the Madonna and Christ Child was most likely conceived as a small devotional object for domestic use. As Austria-Hungary had long been a Roman Catholic state, Viennese modernists continued to engage with these traditional cultural values in their work.

Japan

Mother with child, okimono

Meiji period (1868–1912)

ivory, ink

Gift of the Cleland Family in memory of Allan Rex and Joan Muriel Cleland, 2018
2018.1418

Miniature Japanese ivory sculptures originated from netsuke – small, intricately carved toggles used to secure inrō, the pouches for tobacco, medicine or name-seals that hung from a man’s obi waist sash. With the rise of Western clothing from the beginning of the Meiji period, netsuke no longer served a practical purpose, prompting skilled ivory artisans to produce okimono, or decorative ornaments, for export. This work, likely produced for a Western audience, shows a mother carrying her baby on her back, a traditional Japanese method for carrying infants known as onbu.

Ivory

Historically ivory was valued as an art material due to its natural beauty, durability and association with the majestic elephant. However, due to the cruelty involved in ivory harvesting and its devastating impact on the international elephant population, its use is no longer condoned. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) intergovernmental agreement, effectively banned the international commercial ivory trade in 1989, and Australian regulations prohibit the domestic trade of ivory objects produced after 1975. This carved ivory figure was produced prior to 1920 and has been included in this display due to its historic and cultural significance, and as an example of its creators’ fine artisanry.

Artist once known

Inuit, Clyde River, Nunavut, Canada

Mother and child

20th century

serpentinite

Presented by the National Gallery Society of Victoria, 1971
CCD22-1971

Indonesia

Mother and child

c. 1970 Nias

wood

Presented by the National Gallery Women’s Association, 1972
AS20-1972

Inge King

German/Australian 1915–2016, born in Germany, moved to Australia 1951

Mother and child

1942

patinated plaster

Gift of Joanna Tanaka-King and Angela Hey in memory of Inge King through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019
2019.380

Supermum

The works in this room celebrate many forms of maternal heroism – both divine and human. Across cultures, maternal deities and ancestral beings are frequently imagined as life-sustaining healers and powerful guardians. In Tiwi creation stories, Murtangkala is said to have emerged from the earth at Murupianga on Melville Island before Parlingari (creation times). Carrying her three children in tunga (bark baskets), she shaped landforms and waterways as she travelled, creating the Country that would sustain her offspring and future generations. In Hinduism, Durga – revered as the protective mother of the universe – is often depicted as a warrior goddess battling demonic forces that threaten peace and prosperity.

Motherhood cannot be reduced to a single narrative of triumph or self-sacrifice. Alongside these divine mother figures, other works in this area reveal maternal heroism in everyday acts of care, resilience and courage. Artist Ruth O’Leary’s efforts to balance the demands of early motherhood with her drive for artistic expression demonstrate how maternal strength can take the form of steady resolve – caring for others while honouring one’s own needs. By envisioning a civic monument dedicated to the undervalued figure of the housewife, Anne Graham underscores the need for greater public recognition of caregiving labour.

Anne Graham

Australian 1925–, born in Austria, moved to Australia 1939

The fountain of the universal housewife

1993

oil on canvas and wood frame

Presented through The Art Foundation of Victoria by an anonymous donor, 1998
1998.123.a-b

In this painting, Anne Graham depicts a bustling city square from an elevated vantage point. Near its centre stands the titular fountain of the universal housewife. This everywoman figure – whom Graham described as ‘the unsung hero of suburbia’ – is elevated to an unexpected place of honour in the form of a civic monument. Graham’s painting can be read as a subtle yet pointed critique of patriarchal culture, which has long undervalued and overlooked forms of labour traditionally classified as ‘women’s work,’ such as caregiving and housework.

Sybil Craig

Australian 1901–89, born in England, moved to Australia 1902

Mother figure with children

mid 1930s

pencil

Gift from the Estate of Sybil Craig, 1990
P66-1990

Iluwanti Ken

Pitjantjatjara 1944–

Walawuru ngunytju kukaku ananyi (Mother eagles going hunting)

2023

ink and synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Purchased with funds donated by Beatrice Moignard and NGV Foundation, 2023
2023.600.a-c

Senior Pitjantjatjara artist lluwanti Ken is well known for her large-scale ink drawings, which feature graphic depictions of mother eagles hunting. These highly detailed drawings are created using punu sticks and express her tjukurpa (Anangu cultural heritage, encompassing the past, present and future).

I paint the Walawulu, the Eagle. I have actually painted the eagle for years and I also make sculptures of the eagle with Tjanpi Desert Weavers. Eagles have lots of lessons to share with Anangu women, particularly in regard to motherhood … Protecting, feeding and caring for children, Anangu women have always looked to the eagles for these lessons.

– Iluwanti Ken, 2020

India

Durga glass painting

late 19th century

glass, colour pigments

Purchased, NGV Supporters of Asian Art, 2019
2019.908

Ananta Ram Rana

Indian 1969–

Durga

2017 Sonepur, Odisha

earthenware

Purchased NGV Foundation, 2019
2019.618

Ananta Ram Rana is a renowned potter and sculptor from Sonepur, and the son and follower of Shri Loknath Rana (1944–2020). In this work, Rana portrays Durga, one of Hinduism’s most venerated deities. Revered as the protective mother of the universe, Durga is often depicted as a warrior goddess battling demonic forces that threaten peace and prosperity. In Rana’s rendition, Durga wields a trident and stands atop her chosen vahana (vehicle) – a lion or tiger – embodied here as a moustached man.

Katrin Koenning

German 1978–, Australia since 2002

repair

2020, printed 2022

archival pigment print

Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2022
2022.1553.28

During Melbourne’s lockdown period and brief moments of regional travel, Katrin Koenning made a body of photographic work. She documented her communities and environment including neighbours, animals, loved ones, streets, parks and her apartment – revealing stories of entanglement, connection, intimacy and repair.

At the tail end of the fires, through pandemic time, were five kilometres where we belonged – between the skin and sea. Love was in a closer way; it was a time of endings and beginnings, loss and change. We tried to be like water, rising and collapsing in one motion. No one knew how many years would pass this way. Were we awake or dreaming?

– Katrin Koenning, 2025

For kids

Why do you think this photograph is titled Repair?

Repair can mean taking something that is broken (like a toy or a car) and making it good and working again. It can also mean fixing hurt feelings between friends or family members, often through talking and trying to understand one another.

Your body is great at repairing itself too! Have you ever fallen over and scraped your knee? Your blood forms a scab to cover the wound and new skin grows underneath.

No matter what needs to be repaired, a hug from someone we love always makes us feel better.

Queenie McKenzie

Gija c. 1915–98

Blackfellas in bush country

1987 Warmun, Western Australia

earth pigments and natural binder on canvas board

Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria, 1991
O.130-1991

Queenie McKenzie was a respected Gija law woman, community leader and artist from Texas Downs station (Gawoornben) in the East Kimberley. Her mother, Nugugaya, also known as Dinah, was a Malngin/Gurindji woman and worked as a cook on the station, while her father, Roy, was a gardiya (white man) and horse breaker from Queensland. McKenzie grew up during an era of extreme and violent assimilation policies, when Aboriginal children of mixed parentage were routinely taken from their families. As a light-skinned child, she lived under constant threat of removal. Her mother bravely rubbed charcoal onto McKenzie’s face each day to darken her complexion, allowing her to remain on Country. Her mother’s act of resistance is widely understood to have protected McKenzie from kidnapping.

Mark Virgil Puautjimi

Tiwi 1964–

Maria Josette Orsto

Tiwi 1962–2020

Murtankala

1999 Nguiu, Bathurst Island, Northern Territory

earthenware, stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.) and palm fibre

Purchased with funds donated by Supporters and Patrons of Indigenous Art, 2003
2003.671

Murtankala is the primary ancestral figure in Tiwi creation stories – an old, blind woman who emerged from the earth before Parlingari (creation times). Rising from the ground at Murupianga on Melville Island, she travelled across the darkness, shaping landforms and waterways with each step. Carrying her three children in tunga (bark baskets), she created the country and ecosystems that would sustain them, including the Apsley Strait which separates the islands of Melville and Bathurst. In this sculpture, Murtankala is shaped as a powerful maternal figure. She carries her children, wrapped in palm fibre and held in a tunga made by Maria Josette Orsto, embodying care, protection and the responsibility of providing for future generations.

Ruth O’Leary

Australian 1990–

Flinders Street, 2017

2017

digital type C photograph

Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2025
2025.685

When I birthed my first child, Apollo, I suddenly found it impossible to set-up photo shoots with lighting and cameras, as I had been doing before becoming a mother. Desperate to make work, I would catch the train to Flinders Street Station with my baby. For a whole year I used the black and white photo booth outside the train station as my set, bringing in costumes and backdrops to compose images and get them printed in one go. It was the cheapest photography studio with in-built assistance! Now I look back at these photographs as a critical turning point in my practice. I made a decision to put the two energies of motherhood and art making at the center of my practice, giving voice and materiality to my experience as a woman, an artist and a mother.

– Ruth O’Leary, 2025

New acquisition

Bad mother

The archetype of the ‘bad mother’ has long been linked with the judgement and control of the female body. Throughout history, motherhood has been framed as a moral responsibility, bound by strict expectations on how a mother should behave and live. Those who challenged these ideals, by retaining their independence, ambition or sexuality, were often deemed ‘bad’ and frequently cast as transgressors. In Western Christian traditions, this maternal ideal was shaped most powerfully through images of the Virgin Mary. Gentle, pure and self-sacrificing, the Virgin Mary of these representations has profoundly influenced cultural definitions of what constitutes ‘good’ motherhood.

During the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, anxieties about women who broke social norms were amplified through depictions of witches in literature and art. Often healers or midwives, and sometimes providers of requested abortions, these women were depicted as grotesque and monstrous, as seen in etchings by Francisco Goya in this room. Similar fears emerge in the mid nineteenth century in works by Honoré Daumier and Paul Gavarni, whose satirical images reflect misogynistic anxieties around female independence and suffrage, portraying autonomous women as neglectful mothers.

Such criticism is further intensified for First Nations women, women of colour and queer parents. In this room, Destiny Deacon’s Home video leans into racist stereotypes imposed on Blak mothers by exaggerating prejudices to the extreme. Tracey Moffatt’s art similarly exposes the disproportionate scrutiny and blame directed at Aboriginal women from the mainstream, revealing the enduring racialised standards through which motherhood continues to be assessed.

Minton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire manufacturer

English est. 1793

Art Pottery Studio, London decorator

English 1871–75

Edward John Poynter designer

English 1836–1919

Medea, tile

designed 1868, manufactured 1871–75

earthenware

The Dr Robert Wilson Collection. Presented through the NGV Foundation by Dr Robert Wilson, Honorary Life Benefactor, 2002
2002.398.1

Greek mythology abounds with transgressive mothers who challenge traditional notions of femininity and power. Depicted here is the sorceress Medea, niece of Circe and wife of Jason. Using her magical prowess, Medea helped Jason secure the Golden Fleece, a legendary sheepskin with healing abilities. Her myth, recounted in Euripides’s tragedy Medea, ends catastrophically when she kills her two children after Jason abandons her for another woman. While widely read as an act of revenge, some interpretations suggest that by killing them, Medea spares her children from a society that would have deemed them illegitimate.

Sforza Di Marcantonio manufacturer

Italian active 1530s – c. 1580

Myrrha giving birth to Adonis, plate

1550

earthenware (maiolica)

Bequest of Howard Spensley, 1939
4405-D3

In Greek mythology and in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Myrrha is cursed by Aphrodite with an illicit desire for her own father. Pregnant and desperate, she flees Arabia, pleading with the gods for mercy. When her prayers go unanswered, she is transformed into a myrrh tree, her tears of shame and sorrow hardening into the fragrant resin that flows from its bark.

Ethel Walker

English 1861–1951, born in Scotland, moved to England early 1870s

Lilith

c. 1920s

oil on canvas

Felton Bequest, 1948
1842-4

In medieval Jewish folklore, Lilith was Adam’s wife before the creation of Eve. Refusing to be subservient to her husband, she left Eden and according to some traditions gave birth to a swarm of demonic offspring, casting her as a threat to mothers and newborns. Ethel Walker had an ongoing fascination with the subject of Lilith, who by the late nineteenth century had been reclaimed as a figure of defiance, freedom and equality. Far from the cruel archetype, Walker’s Lilith is absorbed into an emerging queer feminist vision which embraced new pantheistic spiritual movements.

Dosso Dossi

Italian c. 1486–1541/42

Battista Dossi attributed to

Italian active 1517–48

Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara

1519–30

oil on wood panel

Felton Bequest, 1966
1587-5

The Italian noblewoman Lucrezia Borgia (1480–1519) has long been imagined as a dangerous and immoral woman, and later stories even portrayed her as a bad mother. These accusations came less from her own actions than from the scandal, political rivalry and misogyny that surrounded the powerful Borgia family. In reality, the surviving letters and records portray Lucrezia as a caring and attentive parent who protected her children’s education, health and estates. Her reputation as a ‘wicked mother’ was largely a fabrication of her enemies and of later writers, rather than an accurate reflection of her life. Aside from a medallion struck to celebrate her marriage, this is the only known portrait of Lucrezia Borgia painted in her lifetime.

Destiny Deacon

Kuku/Erub/Mer 1957–2024

Home video

1987

colour video transferred to digital video, sound

Purchased with funds donated by Craig Semple, 2020
2020.805

Delores is a recurring character in Destiny Deacon’s video works, including this 1987 collaboration with Lisa Bellear and Tommy Peterson. Manic, razor-sharp and darkly humorous, Delores is a mother who refuses to conform. She’s brash, self-absorbed and unrepentant, the antithesis of the nurturing ideal figure. Through sharp, biting dialogue, Deacon prods at the negative stereotypes projected onto Aboriginal mothers by embodying the most extreme version of that stereotype, thereby exposing the racism and hypocrisy underpinning Western expectations of the ‘good mother’. In keeping with her broader practice, which incorporates photographs and dollies, Deacon embraces humour and excess to parody the world around her, revealing how the ‘bad mother’ label is so often weaponised against the blak mother.

Tracey Moffatt

Australian 1960–

Mother’s Day, 1975

1994

from the Scarred for Life series 1994

colour photo-offset lithograph

ed. 5/50

Purchased, 1994
P138.6-1994

In her Scarred for Life series, Tracey Moffatt reimagines the glossy, idealised imagery of mid-century magazines such as Life, replacing scenes of domestic perfection with moments of unease and tension. Purposefully devoid of context or backstory, the images function like stills from television dramas, prompting viewers to project their own assumptions and prejudices on to them. Beneath their nostalgic veneers, these works expose how our understandings of motherhood are influenced by society, media and memory, revealing the biases imposed on mothers, particularly those of First Nations and racially diverse backgrounds, within a culture that continues to glorify white, heteronormative womanhood.

Tracey Moffatt

Australian 1960–

Birth certificate, 1962

1994

from the Scarred for Life series 1994

colour photo-offset lithograph

ed. 5/50

Purchased, 1994
P138.1-1994

Honoré Daumier

French 1808–79

My wife has been at this banquet for a long time … It’s been the best part of forty-eight hours
Ma femme reste bien long-temps à ce banquet … voilà bientôt quarante huit heures qu’elle est partie!

plate 10 from the Socialist Women (Les femmes socialistes) series

1849

hand-coloured lithograph and gum arabic

2nd of 2 states

Felton Bequest, 1930
4317-3

In mid nineteenth-century France, women increasingly assumed active roles in public life and political discourse. They participated in protests, strikes and political discussions, advocating for greater rights, including suffrage. In his 1849 series Socialist Women, Honoré Daumier satirises the fight for women’s independence. Reflecting contemporary misogynistic attitudes of this period, Daumier portrays politically active, left-leaning women as fanatical and irresponsible. In this plate, he depicts the perceived consequences of the rebellion against husbands: children are neglected, the household falls into disarray, and the solitary husband is left to ponder his wife’s whereabouts.

Paul Gavarni

French 1804–66

It’s very odd – my wife was supposed to dine at Madame Coquardeau’s but only the children were there
C’est bien drôle que ma femme devait diner chez Maman Coquardeau et que ne j’y trouve que les petits…..c’est bien drôle!

from The Deceit of Women (Fourberies des femmes) series, 2nd series

1841

lithograph

3rd of 4 states

Felton Bequest, 1930
4363-3

In his popular satirical series The Deceit of Women, Paul Gavarni illustrates various acts of trickery carried out by women against men. In this print, a husband discovers that his wife has surreptitiously abandoned her motherly duties, leaving their children in the care of another woman while she enjoys a night of freedom. While the series could be read as critical of women, it also subtly challenges the rigidity of mid nineteenth-century gender roles. Gavarni highlights the lengths women were compelled to go to in order to navigate their restrictive social circumstances, while simultaneously ridiculing men for their obliviousness to these deceptions.

Rob McHaffie

Australian 1978–

You’re not going out tonight

2014

gouache and pencil

Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2015
2015.28

Bertram Mackennal

Australian 1863–1931, lived in England, France and India 1882–1931

Circe

1893

bronze

Felton Bequest, 1910
478-2

The femme fatale goddess Circe has been known as a powerful and seductive sorceress, capable of alluring men and transforming them into animals, most famously swine. Less often told, however, is her life as a mother: abandoned by Odysseus, she is thrust into a life of solitude, forced to teach herself how to nurture, protect and guide her sons alone on the island of Aeaea. For Circe, motherhood does not come naturally. Her story embodies the tension between maternal tenderness and authority, care and struggle, self-sovereignty and self-sacrifice. At its heart, her myth illuminates the complexity of motherhood, particularly for those parenting alone, whether by choice or circumstance – revealing its challenges, conflicts and extraordinary power.

Francisco Goya y Lucientes

Spanish 1746–1828, lived in France 1824–28

Where is mother going?
Donde vá mamá?

plate 65 from The Caprices (Los Caprichos) series 1797–98

published Madrid, 1799, 1st edition

etching, aquatint and drypoint printed in sepia ink

Felton Bequest, 1976
P1.65-1976

In The Caprices series, Goya satirised the follies, vices and superstitions of eighteenth-century Spanish society. Witches appear frequently in the series, symbolising unrestrained female sexuality and a subversion of the natural order. In this etching, three goblin-like creatures cling to a naked witch while her cat grips a parasol and an owl improbably supports their collective weight. Blurring the boundaries between human and non-human, and between one body and many, this grotesque mass of interlocking limbs stands in stark contrast to the Christian ideal of the chaste, nurturing mother. Goya’s portrayal of rebellious women as unsettling or monstrous reflects broader cultural anxieties concerning those who defy established gender expectations.

Francisco Goya y Lucientes

Spanish 1746–1828, lived in France 1824–28

Here comes the bogey-man
Que viene el Coco

plate 3 from The Caprices (Los Caprichos) series 1797–98

published Madrid, 1799, 1st edition

etching and burnished aquatint printed in sepia ink

Felton Bequest, 1976
P1.3-1976

This scene of a mother staring at a shrouded figure while her two terrified children cling to her has been interpreted as Goya’s critique of a repressive educational system based on fear of supernatural beings. Although a concern with poor education pervades this series, Goya’s specific target here is the women traditionally responsible for passing beliefs from one generation to the next. Implicating mothers in their children’s ignorance and superstition, the print alludes to the bogeyman – who wears fashionably pointy shoes beneath his robe – as the mother’s illicit lover. This interpretation would explain the contrasting expressions of the mother and her children.

Ruth Maddison

Australian 1945–

Pat Counihan, 74

1991

from the Women Over Sixty series 1991

gelatin silver photograph, fibre-tipped pen

Gift of the artist, 1995
1995.748

Magic maker

When caring for children, the magical and the mundane go hand in hand, contrasting play and wonder with the frequently overlooked labour and exhaustion that come with creating an environment in which children can thrive and grow.

It is often the mother or primary carer who bears the responsibility for creating and keeping memories, through play, teaching, maintaining family traditions and documenting milestones. While beautiful and intimate, this role also brings with it significant societal pressure and a heavy mental load.

Amid the messiness and repetition of daily life, the inherent creativity of children can offer mothers and carers a chance to reignite their own curiosity. Many artists describe motherhood not as a pause in creative life, but as a profound shift in perception and practice.

By holding space for both wonder and weariness, some artists reflect on the creativity demanded by caregiving, and the ways in which children reshape how we see, remember and make meaning in the world.

Siri Hayes

Australian 1977–

Prickly pears and mumbling old stones

2011

from the All You Knit Is Love series 2011–12

chromogenic print

ed. 1/6

Gift of William Donald Bowness through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2015
2015.306

Prickly pears and mumbling old stones depicts my family and I at the bottom of Gaudi’s Park Guel in Barcelona, Spain, where we were living for three months on a residency in 2011.

A significant shift took place in my practice during this time. I continued to investigate my interest in landscapes, place and art history, but travelling and living in Spain trained my attention in a personal direction. I began to focus on my position as a parent, tourist and artist in relation to a foreign place. I found a large part of travelling was making the kids feel comfortable whilst also having the opportunity to visit exciting art galleries. I became aware of how we were navigating a new place as a family unit and this became the way I engaged with it conceptually in my work.

I chose this location in Park Guel down near the prickly pears because I love the old stonework. I associate the cacti with Paul and the kid’s Middle Eastern heritage, and the prickly pears with their grandparents’ place back in Melbourne. I staged us amongst these character-filled cacti and crumbling stone walls, in masks, myself at the back as a protective mama wolf/artist overseeing my little pack.

– Siri Hayes, 2025

Luca Cambiaso school of

Italian 1527–85

Seated woman with playing children

c.1542–85

pen and ink, sepia wash

David and Marion Adams Collection. Gift of David Adams, 2013
2013.64

Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Japanese 1797–1861

Mother and child

1830–48, Edo period (1603–1868)

ink, colour pigment on silk

Purchased with funds donated by Baillieu Myer AC and Sarah Myer, 2017
2017.1034

Ruth Maddison

Australian 1945–

No title (Unwrapped Christmas presents under the Christmas tree)

1977–78, printed 1979

from the Christmas Holidays with Bob’s Family, Mermaid Beach, Queensland series 1977–78, printed 1979

gelatin silver photograph, coloured pencils and fibre-tipped pen

ed. 1/5

Purchased, 1980
PH207.8-1980

Ruth Maddison

Australian 1945–

No title (Christmas tree and presents)

1977–78, 1979 printed

from the Christmas Holidays with Bob’s Family, Mermaid Beach, Queensland series

1977–78, 1979 printed

gelatin silver photograph, coloured pencils and fibre-tipped pen

ed. 1/5

Purchased, 1980
PH207.2-1980

Carrie Mae Weems

American 1953–

Untitled (Woman and daughter with make-up)

1990, printed 1999

from the Kitchen Table Series 1990

silver print

In this photograph, Carrie Mae Weems presents an intimate scene of reflection and shared ritual. Seated at the kitchen table, she and her daughter apply make-up side by side, their gestures echoing one another in an act of mirroring that speaks to self-expression and inheritance. Reflecting on her celebrated series, in 2011 the artist stated:

I made them all in my own kitchen, using a single light source hanging over the kitchen table. It just swung open this door of what I could actually do in my own environment. What I’m suggesting really is that the battle around the family, the battle around monogamy, the battle around polygamy, the social dynamics that happens between men and women, that war gets carried on in that space. The Kitchen Table Series would not be simply a voice for African-American women, but more generally for women.

Proposed acquisition

Kitagawa Hidemaro

Japanese active 1804–17

A reflection of summer’s cool breeze
Natsu wa ryō no sugatami

c. 1810

colour woodblock

Felton Bequest, 1909
430-2

Kitagawa Hidemaro was a pupil of the Edo period master printmaker Kitagawa Utamaro, whose now-famous series of women in daily life and of mothers with their children fuelled a growing interest in the individual in late eighteenth-century Japan. Hidemaro followed in the footsteps of his teacher, delighting in showing spontaneous and intimate moments between mothers and their children.

For kids

Can you see the mum playing a gentle trick with her baby?

She uses a lantern to make a shadow puppet. The baby watches the shadow carefully and does not see his mother’s hand making it, which makes her smile.

Have you made shadows with your hands or something else in front of a light before?

Johannes Christiaan Janson etcher

Dutch 1763–1823

Christina Chalon after

Dutch 1748–1808

The mother teaching her child to walk

c. 1778–1823

etching

Felton Bequest, 1923
1278.816-3

Christina Chalon’s freedom to pursue a career in art, and the esteem she earned within artistic circles, were both highly unusual feats for Dutch women in the eighteenth century. While Chalon’s work is rooted in the Dutch tradition of peasant genre scenes, she set herself apart from her contemporaries by moving away from the characteristic focus on rowdy, dissolute subjects. Instead, Chalon depicts intimate domestic moments, such as tender exchanges shared between women and children.

Left to right:

Mia Mala McDonald

Australian 1982–

Sandra, Olivia, Ameily

2019 Wiradjuri Country close to Bpangerang Country/Howlong, New South Wales

from the Once in a Lullaby, a Portrait of Australian Rainbow Families series 2022

pigment inkjet print

ed. 1/5

Amy-Jo, Tam And Malu

2021 Wurundjeri Country/Reservoir, Victoria

from the Once in a Lullaby, a Portrait of Australian Rainbow Families series 2022

pigment inkjet print

ed. 1/5

Jessie, Lin, Michelle and Amanda

2019 Wurundjeri Country/Fitzroy, Victoria

from the Once in a Lullaby, a Portrait of Australian Rainbow Families series 2022

pigment inkjet print

ed. 1/5

Proposed acquisitions

Mia Mala McDonald

Australian 1982–

Luke, David, Kelly And Eden Aisla

2020 Wurundjeri Country/Coburg, Victoria

from the Once in a Lullaby, a Portrait of Australian Rainbow Families series 2022

pigment inkjet print

ed. 1/5

Mia Mala McDonald’s intimate portraits of LGBTQIA+ families explore the politics of kinship, the complex and often fragile pathways toward parenthood, and the experiences of love, loss, care and belonging. For McDonald, the work reflects as much on what it means to be Australian as on sexuality. The project began during the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey in 2017, a moment that exposed polarising debates and the lack of nuanced representation of LGBTQIA+ families in mainstream media. Once in a Lullaby responds with quiet conviction, resisting spectacle to offer dignified, tender scenes of domestic life. The work stands as both a record of a charged social moment and a broader reflection on visibility, belonging and care in contemporary Australia.

Proposed acquisition

Thea Proctor

Australian 1879–1966, lived in England 1903–12, 1914–21

Mother and son

1915

lithograph

Gift of A. J. L. McDonnell Esq., 1962
1071-5

Max Dupain

Australian 1911–92

Mother and child

1952, printed c. 1986

gelatin silver photograph

Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of Mr A. C. Goode, Fellow, 1987
PH20-1987

Has Max Dupain captured a rare moment of peace in life with a toddler here? This tender portait shows Dupain’s wife Diana, and their two-year-old daughter Danina on a beach at Toowoon Bay, New South Wales. As writer Helen Ennis reveals in her recent biography of Dupain, Danina was teething at the time and the photograph was taken after a night of broken sleep.

Harry Callahan

American 1912–99

Eleanor and Barbara, Chicago

1954, printed 1970s

gelatin silver photograph

Purchased, 1979
PH43-1979

Harry Callahan began photographing his wife, Eleanor, shortly after they married in 1936 and continued to do so for almost fifty years. When their daughter, Barbara, was born in 1950, his attention shifted to the quiet scenes shared by mother and child. Looking back on this period in her nineties, Eleanor recalled:

He just liked to take the pictures of me. In every pose. Rain or shine. And whatever I was doing. If I was doing the dishes or if I was half asleep. And he knew that I never, never said no. I was always there for him. Because I knew that Harry would only do the right thing.

Eleanor Bell

Irish 1848–1907, worked in Australia 1882–85, lived in United States 1893–1907

Grandmother’s Bible

c. 1880

oil on canvas

Presented by friends of the artist, 1885
p.311.2-1

Images of children receiving reading lessons first appeared in seventeenth-century Holland and neighbouring countries. In the context of the Protestant Reformation and a shift in social values, the ability to read was crucial, as it was through an independent knowledge of the scripture that people gained access to God. Victorian-era artist Eleanor Bell intentionally evokes these moral concerns through her use of a brown-tinged, recognisably Dutch palette. As the young girl looks back toward her grandmother for approval, light falls across her face and her opened ‘picture Bible’. This device, which dramatises the moment of mental illumination, also appears in Rembrandt’s Two old men disputing, also in the NGV Collection.

Frame: original, by J & T Thallon, Melbourne

John Longstaff

Australian 1861–1941, lived in Europe 1887–95, 1901–20

The young mother

1891

oil on canvas

Purchased with funds donated by the NGV Women’s Association, Alan and Mavourneen Cowen, Paula Fox, Ken and Jill Harrison and donors to the John Longstaff Appeal, 2013
2013.766

This tender portrait depicts the artist’s wife, Louisa Rosa ‘Topsy’ Crocker, with their first child, Ralph. Painted during a period of poverty and isolation in London where the family were required to live for Longstaff’s career as an artist, the work shows Topsy in their cramped apartment, gently fanning her infant son. Financial hardship and instability weighed heavily on the family while in Europe. There, Topsy was deeply unhappy, feeling isolated from community and rarely leaving their home. Eventually, she and the children left for Australia, and for much of their lives, Topsy raised her children alone. In this painting, Longstaff captures an intimate moment of love between mother and child, magnifying Topsy’s resilience in creating a nurturing space for her baby amid hardship and with little support.

Iso Rae

Australian 1860–1940, lived in France 1887–1932, England 1932–40

Breton family

c. 1892

oil on canvas

Purchased with funds donated by Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Family and the June Sherwood Bequest, 2023
2023.2

Born in Melbourne, Iso Rae moved to France in 1887, with her mother and sister, where they settled in the town of Étaples. In this painting, which reflects Rae’s interest in the rhythms of rural life, she depicts a quiet moment for a mother and her children. Though the identity of the sitters remains uncertain, Rae painted a small blonde child, who repeatedly appears in her work throughout her career. Rae kept some of these paintings in her personal collection until her death. It has been speculated that this child was of close personal significance to Rae and her sister, Alison, and may have influenced their move to France, where societal attitudes towards single mothers were more lenient compared to Australia.

Davida Allen

Australian 1951–

Baby

1989

colour lithograph

ed. 2/20

Purchased from Admission Funds, 1989
P205-1989

The Title is ‘Baby’ BUT IT IS NOT THE BABY THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF THIS DOMESTIC IMAGE. Rather … it is all about the Mother !!!! The Mother’s MOUTH with teeth gnashing!! She is tired. She is in no mood to have the baby not cooperate at feeding time. There is NO Mouth on the baby, just the SPOON that the mother is holding. There is no food; instead the domestic image of a table with cup and saucer; blue jug; another cup and saucer; vase of flowers; fork knife plate … it is a SYMBOLIC DRAWING OF THE DRAMA OF DINNER TIME …

– Davida Allen, 2025

Joseph Swain wood engraver

English 1820–1909

George John Pinwell after

English 1842–75

Making it up

c. 1858–75

wood engraving

artist’s proof

Felton Bequest, 1906
771.3-2

Invisible mother

Visual representations of mothers play a powerful role in shaping how mothering is perceived and understood. Western art has historically portrayed the ideal mother as a white, upper-class, heterosexual woman who is endlessly nurturing, self-sacrificing and fulfilled.

Often narrow and idealised, such views of mothers obscure the complexity and diversity of maternal experience. The absence in representation widens the gap between the lived realities of mothering and the mainstream narratives that continue to inform ideals and attitudes in Western consciousness.

Some artists position motherhood against unattainable ideals of self-effacement and perfection, while others challenge the prevailing narratives of what motherhood is expected to be. They make visible the often unacknowledged emotional and physical labour that sustains families and communities. At the same time, they foreground mothering as a site of creative, political and personal possibility.

Hayley Millar Baker

Gunditjmara/Djabwurrung 1990–

Entr’acte

2023

single channel black-and-white video, no sound

Purchased with funds donated by Craig Semple, 2024
2024.165

She is conditioned to suppress her emotions, project strength and persevere in a society that offers little space or understanding for her experiences. This societal framework dictates women’s bodies, exposes them to violence, and seeks to control their agency. In moments of grief or anger, women must quickly weigh their responses – whether to protest or strategise – under the heavy expectations of patriarchy. Entr’acte encapsulates the silent endurance of motherhood – the invisible labour of carrying, containing and sustaining across generations – whose survival ensures the continuity of future generations. In doing so, it links historical struggles to contemporary experience, implicitly displaying maternal resilience and the quiet, persistent endurance that sustains life and legacy.

– Hayley Millar Baker, 2025

John Henry Lorimer

Scottish 1856–1936

A lullaby

1889

oil on canvas

Felton Bequest, 1921
1132-3

In upper-class Victorian households, nannies bore the primary responsibility of childrearing. Like other service staff, they were expected to be both visible and invisible: their presence affirmed their employers’ status, while the demanding nature of their labour was meant to remain out of sight and mind. In this painting, John Henry Lorimer depicts his baby nephew, Thomas Chalmers, sleeping under the watchful eye of Joanna Herbert from Demerara, who helped to raise all six Chalmers children. In this sentimental scene of domestic calm and devotion, Herbert – whose role as staff is signalled by her uniform – gently rocks baby Thomas’s cradle in a tower of Lorimer’s home at Kellie Castle in Pittenweem, Scotland.

Queen Victoria

English 1819–1901

Victoria, Princess Royal, with her nurse

1841

etching on chine collé

only state

Gift of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, 1893
p.191.6-1

Queen Victoria’s first child, also named Victoria, was born on 21 November 1840. Created three months later (26 February 1841), this etching was made by the Queen during one of her daily nursery visits, which she recorded in journal entries such as this: ‘We went up to see the Child, who was very dear. Wrote and did some etching.’ Holding, and obscured behind the baby, is the Princess Royal’s nurse, most likely Mrs Pegley. As a ‘monthly nurse,’ her role was temporary, focused on providing care in the initial postpartum period. Other staff in the Victorian Royal Nursery included medical professionals, wet nurses and governesses.

Louise Bourgeois

French-American 1911–2010, moved to United States 1938

Ste Sébastienne

1992

drypoint

ed. 25/50

Purchased, 1999
1999.281

In Ste Sébastienne, Louise Bourgeois depicts an armless, headless female figure whose rounded contours suggest pregnancy or fertility. She is surrounded by arrows, some piercing her body while others hover menacingly nearby, creating an effect reminiscent of an anatomical diagram. By reimagining Saint Sebastian, the Christian martyr shot with arrows for his faith, as a woman, Bourgeois underscores the physical and emotional pain that many women quietly endure. Reflecting on the print, Bourgeois remarked: ‘It’s a state of being under attack, of being anxious and afraid … What does a person do when they are under siege? Do you fight back, or do you run for cover and retreat into the protection of your own lair? That is the big question.’

John Spooner

Australian 1946–

Pieta

1990

published in Quadrant, December 1990

pen and brush and ink over pencil

Gift of the artist, 2000
2000.110

Cosimo di Lorenzo Rosselli

Italian 1439–1507

Cosimo di Lorenzo Roselli studio of

Madonna and Child with three angels

c. 1478–80

tempera on wood panel

Bequest of Howard Spensley, 1939
555-4

Ann Newmarch

Australian 1945–2022

Jake, Bruno and Jessie, 10, 5 and 5 days

1982

from the Children series 1977–87

colour photo-screenprint

ed. 11/35

Purchased, 2001
2001.527.6

Growing up in a conservative household, Ann Newmarch was expected to put aside her professional ambitions to follow the traditional pathway for women, marked by marriage and motherhood. Instead, she rejected those imposed limitations, bolstered by the belief that art could challenge social and political norms. After becoming a parent in the early 1970s, Newmarch drew on her own family life to produce works that both embraced and questioned domestic ideals, revealing the pressures placed on women and children within patriarchal structures. At the same time, many of her screenprints, such as this one, capture her delight in connecting with her children ‘as photographer, collector, artist and mother.’

Viva Gibb

Australian 1945–2017

Rupert and Sybil

c. 1983

gelatin silver photograph

Gift of Sybil Gibb and Rupert Duffy in memory of Viva Gibb through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019
2019.66

Viva Gibb

Australian 1945–2017

Sybil Gibb

1991

gelatin silver photograph, paint

Gift of Sybil Gibb and Rupert Duffy in memory of Viva Gibb through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2019
2019.72

Top row, left to right:

Alfred Winter

Australian active 1860–81

No title (Baby), carte-de-visite

1860–81

albumen silver photograph

Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
2020.422

P. L. Reid & Co., Hobart

Australian 1864–78

No title (Baby), carte-de-visite

1860s Hobart, Tasmania

albumen silver photograph

Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
2020.342

William Bentley

Australian 1836–1910

No title (Baby), cabinet print

1895–1900

albumen silver photograph

Gift of John McPhee, 1994
PH43-1994

James R. Dobson & Co., Adelaide

Australian 1877–83

No title (Baby), carte-de-visite

1877–83

albumen silver photograph

Gift of John McPhee, 1994
PH44-1994

Alfred Symmons, Newcastle

Australian active 1884–97

No title (Child holding a tambourine), carte-de-visite

1884–97

albumen silver photograph

Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
2020.252

William T. B. Latimer

Australian active 1884–1900

No title (Baby on chair), cabinet print

1890s, dated 1901

albumen silver photograph

Gift of C. Stuart Tompkins, 1972
PH215-1972

John Bishop-Osborne

Australian active 1879 – c. 1900

No title (Baby), carte-de-visite

1879–81

albumen silver photograph, coloured dyes

Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
2020.274

In nineteenth-century studio photography, infants and young children were required to remain perfectly still for long periods due to the camera’s lengthy exposure time. To keep them calm and in position, mothers often held their children from just beyond the edge of the frame or concealed themselves beneath cloths or behind furniture. These ‘hidden mother’ cartes-de-visite and cabinet portraits reveal the unseen labour of caregiving at the very moment photography was establishing new ideals of childhood, as part of a cultural shift that emphasised children’s individuality. Although the sitter appears to be solely the child, the mother’s presence remains essential, reminding us of the often-invisible work of nurturing, soothing and safeguarding.

For kids

Can you see someone hiding in these photos?

When these photographs were made 150 years ago, cameras were very slow, so people needed to stay very still while their photo was taken. Babies and young children often wiggled, so a parent – usually the mother – would hide under a blanket or behind a chair while holding the child steady. Today, these pictures might look strange or funny, but they show the effort mothers took to have photos of their children taken, saved as memories, long before fast cameras existed.

Guerrilla Girls, New York art collective

American est. 1985–

What I want for Mother’s Day

1991

from the Guerrilla Girls Portfolio Compleat 1985–2012 + Upgrade 2012–2016 1985–2016

poster: offset lithograph on pink paper

ed. 32/50

Purchased with funds donated by Susan Jones and James McGrath, 2018
2018.77

The Women’s Domestic Needlework Group, Sydney

Australian active 1979–86

The forgotten workers

1979

poster 7 from The Women’s Domestic Needlework Group series 1979

colour photo-stencil screenprint

Michell Endowment, 1980
DC16.7-1980

In the 1970s feminist artists saw needlework, which had long been dismissed as a feminine domestic craft, as a powerful medium for exposing the sexism of the male-dominated Western art canon. Founded in 1976, the Women’s Domestic Needlework Group (WDNG) sought to honour the anonymous women artists whose embroidery, lacemaking and crochet had been historically undervalued, and to reframe these practices as a form of artistic expression. In 1979 WDNG staged The D’oyley Show in Sydney, presenting needlework specimens – many salvaged from thrift shops – alongside ten screen-printed posters. Originally presented as part of the 1979 exhibition, this poster foregrounds the overlooked artistry embedded in caregiving and domestic labour.

Liú Zhīguì

Chinese 1945–

Awake in the middle of the night
Shēnyè bùmián

1974

published by Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 1974

colour lithograph

Gift of Rachel Faggetter, 2019
2019.809

In this work, a mother sacrifices sleep to study at night, balancing her academic ambitions with her parental and agricultural duties. Certificates on the wall recognise her scholarly achievements, while the sunhat and tools in the foreground allude to her work as a farmer. As she writes an essay criticising the fallacy of male superiority, her daughter sleeps beside a fighter jet – symbolising the new opportunities available to women at the time. Propaganda posters like this were distributed by the Chinese Communist Party to promote communist ideals such as gender equality. They were based on paintings by so-called amateur peasant artists from Huxi’an, who had in fact received significant training from professional painters sent to the countryside as part of cultural reform.

Dianne Jones

Balardung 1966–

Redfern interior

2003, printed 2024

inkjet print

Purchased with funds donated by Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Family, Phil Lukies and Janet Whiting AM and family, and Violet Sheno, 2025
2025.848

Ballardong artist Dianne Jones works with photography to challenge the framing and erasure of Aboriginal people within Australia’s colonial image archives. For most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, First Nations people were photographed without consent. These images were used to inform science and ethnography, later disappearing from public view. Jones reclaims these erased histories with sharp wit and a powerful sense of agency, placing Aboriginal people back into the photographic archive. This image responds to David Moore’s 1949 photograph of the same name, which documents intergenerational urban poverty in Sydney. Reimagining Moore’s photograph, Jones honours the survival and resilience of mothers within her own community, while drawing attention to the ongoing inequalities faced by Indigenous women and families today.

New acquisition

My mother

Countless artists have turned their attention to the maternal figures who raised, influenced, challenged or inspired them. For many, representing a mother serves as a loving tribute, or a way to map the contours of one’s personal and cultural identity. For others, it offers a cathartic way to navigate maternal absence or come to terms with a complicated relationship.

Due to their proximity and familiarity, mothers often serve as the most available models for portraits, their features easily sketched from memory. In these instances, the artist’s intimate understanding of the sitter’s character and physical likeness infuses artistic studies with psychological depth. Such is the case with Rembrandt’s portraits of his mother, a subject he revisited several times in his early etchings.

Depictions of artists’ mothers are as stylistically and symbolically varied as the maternal–filial relationships they reflect. Together they paint a rich portrait of how emotions such as nostalgia, grief and affection tie the observer to the observed, revealing as much – if not more – about the artists themselves as about the mothers who serve as their muses.

Eric Wilson

Australian 1911–46

The painter’s mother

1944

oil on plywood

Purchased, 1961
825-5

Sophie Calle

French 1953–

The giraffe

2012

from the Les Autobiographies (Autobiographies) series 2012

type C photograph, gelatin silver photograph, enamel paint on wood, aluminum and painted wood

ed. 3/5

Purchased NGV Foundation, 2013
2013.578.a-b

In contrast to the initial, perhaps absurd, appearance of a giraffe in this image, the accompanying quote reveals a deeply personal connection to the artist’s life. The text transforms this amusing image into one of intimacy, loss and vulnerability, as Sophie Calle reflects on her childhood and relationship with her mother. The taxidermied animal is installed on the wall of Calle’s studio, as the artist described in 2009:

In my studio there is a stuffed giraffe that I bought when my mother died, to replace her. Her name is Monique too, and she looks at me from on high with sadness and irony, just like my mother did. So in a way it is the image of my mother that keeps me company.

A. D. Colquhoun

Australian 1894–1983

Portrait of my mother

1934

oil on canvas

Felton Bequest, 1934
175-4

Max Meldrum

Scottish 1875–1955, arrived in Australia 1889, worked in France 1900–1911, 1926–31

Portrait of the artist’s mother

1913

oil on canvas

Felton Bequest, 1913
570-2

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

Dutch 1606–69

The artist’s mother, with hand on chest: small bust

1631

etching

2nd of 6 states

Everard Studley Miller Bequest, 1960
1244-5

Frank Short

English 1857–1945

Mrs J. T. Short

1898

lithograph

Gift of Brigadier W. E. Clark, 1957
1383.256-5

Noel Counihan

Australian 1913–86

The artist’s mother

1948

plate 6 from the Lithographs by Counihan folio 1948

lithograph

Purchased, 1948
1920.6-4

Henry Rayner

Australian 1902–57, worked in England 1924–57

My mother

1944

drypoint

ed. 1/10

Gift of the artist’s wife, 1947
1729-4

Sheng Qi

Chinese 1965–

Memories (Mother)

2000, printed 2004

type C photograph

ed. 2/5

Purchased, 2004
2004.776

A key member of ‘85 New Wave, an avant-garde art movement in China, Sheng Qi was deeply affected by the changed political climate following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, responding in a physically direct and shocking way. He cut off the little finger of his left hand, buried it in a flowerpot, and went into self-imposed exile in Rome. This work is part of a series he created upon his return to Beijing a decade later. Holding a tiny photograph of his mother in his disfigured hand, Sheng links memories of his childhood with the painful events from his more recent past.

Daniel Church

Darug 1980–

wiyanga (mothers)

2021

from Pelican Mudjin (Family) 2021

synthetic polymer paint and burning on wood, plastic, mother-of-pearl

Purchased, NGV Supporters of Indigenous Art, 2022
2022.818.6

For kids

This carved pelican represents the artist’s wiyanga, the word for ‘mother’ in Darug language. Daniel Church carved a whole family of pelicans, each bird representing someone special in his community: mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. Through these pelicans, Daniel shares the stories and culture passed down through his family, connecting Koori, or First Nations people, who live along the south-east coast of Australia. He says they are ‘one big mudjin, one big mob’.

Which type of animal would represent the people in your family?

David Hockney

English 1937–, United States 1964–68, 1975–

My mother with a parrot

1973–74

etching and aquatint

trial proof

Gift of John Hockney, 2025
2025.617

New acquisition

David Hockney

English 1937–, United States 1964–68, 1975–

My mother sleeping

1982

type C photograph

edition of 20

Gift of John Hockney, 2025
2025.615

New acquisition

Bugai Whylouter

Manyjilyjarra c. 1945–

Pinyirrpa Nancy Patterson

Kartujarra 1940s – 2012

Parnngurr

2009 Kunawarritji, Western Australia

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Felton Bequest, 2011
2011.277

Sisters Bugai Whylouter and Pinyirrpa Nancy Patterson grew up around Parnngurr, Western Australia, their mother’s Country, and the site depicted in this work. During their childhood, the two walked between and lived within several different communities and mission sites in the Martu area. Severe drought and weapons testing on the Woomera Missile Testing Range significantly impacted their traditional lives. Whylouter and Patterson’s approach to painting was fierce, energised and without hesitation, which can be seen in the free-flowing use of circular markings and the experimental use of colour. In this collaboration, the women share their mother’s story, translating it onto the canvas.

To love and to lose

To love a child is to acknowledge the possibility of loss. The feelings of love and loss do not exist despite one another but in many ways exist because of one another. Artists have repeatedly returned to this relationship as a means of examining vulnerability, rupture and care.

Art bears witness to both the devotion and devastation of motherhood: the bond between mother and child, and the consequences of its breaking. Across portraiture, photography and sculpture, artists document maternal relationships while also confronting their fragility. Some works emerge from individual experience while others address collective loss, depicting mothers mourning children lost in war and conflict. These works echo events that continue to shape lives across the world today.

In Australia, under the violent and racist government policies that resulted in the Stolen Generations, the children of thousands of First Nations mothers were forcibly removed from their families. For the most part, the stories of these mothers and their descendants have remained untold. The works gathered here acknowledge ongoing trauma, and the lives, families and communities forever changed by it.

Yvonne Koolmatrie

Ngarrindjeri 1944–

Weaver’s baby in coolamon

2008

sedge (Carex sp.), kangaroo skin

Purchased with funds donated by Helen Kennan, 2008
2008.569.a-c

This is for all mothers who just want to keep their babies close and safe.

– Yvonne Koolmatrie, 2025

For kids

Yvonne Koolmatrie grew up in the Coorong at the mouth of the Murray River in South Australia. The Ngarrindjeri people, the First People of the lower Murray River, have cared for the region for thousands of years. In this sculpture, Yvonne has woven a mother holding her baby in a coolamon (a woven carrying container). The artwork captures a moment of sadness just before the baby is taken from their mother, reminding us that many First Nations families were separated from each other in the past. Yvonne’s message to people is that all mothers, everywhere, want the same thing: to keep their children safe.

Yvonne raised seven children and is now a grandmother to many more. Although she is no longer able to weave, she has passed her skills down to her grandchildren, who continue her weaving traditions today.

Julie Dowling

Badimaya 1969–

All the way

2000

monoprint

Gift of Brigitte Braun, 2007
2007.414

Julie Dowling’s work reflects on family reunion after separation, shaped by her own family history, where ache and hope coexist. It speaks to generations of Aboriginal families fractured by the Stolen Generations, as well as by incarceration and addiction, all consequences of colonial policies and ongoing inequality.

Central to Dowling’s practice is her great-grandmother, ‘Granny’ Latham, a respected Badimaya woman, healer and cultural custodian whose youngest children, including Dowling’s grandmother, were taken from her. As a foster parent and carer herself, Dowling acknowledges the strength of women who have sustained families and cultural knowledge in the face of removal and loss. In this work, reunion is presented as both real and imagined: a space where families are reconnected through memory, storytelling and love, even when absence remains.

Heather Koowootha

Wik Mungkan/Yidinji/Djabugay 1966–

Mother and daughter’s reunion

2014 Cairns, Queensland

etching

ed. 2/35

Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2015
2015.7

Heather Koowootha’s parents were both stolen from their communities as children under the Australian Government’s assimilation policies. Koowootha’s mother was confined to a dormitory at Yarrabah, just outside of Cairns, while her father was removed from his family in Aurukun and sent to work as a stockman at Normanton Mission. The two later met at Yarrabah and raised ten children together, of whom Koowootha and four siblings survive. This is a work of harrowing intensity, drawn from Koowootha’s mother’s memories of being stolen and an imagined reunion between the artist and her own mother on Country which never eventuated.

John Prince Siddon

Walmajarri 1964–

Took our children away

2024 Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Purchased with funds donated by Linda Herd and the Canny Quine Foundation, 2025
2025.18

New acquisition

Destiny Deacon

Kuku/Erub/Mer 1957–2024

Adoption

2000, printed 2016 Naarm/Melbourne

lightjet photograph

ed. 13/15

Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2016
2016.614

In this work, baby dolls lie in cupcake cases, as if they were delicacies set out for a tea party. The unsettling image refers not only to infants in a nursery, but also to a nineteenth-century colonial slur that falsely – and ludicrously – cast Aboriginal mothers as cannibals of their children. Deacon turns this grotesque misrepresentation back on itself, delivering a commentary on the policies that saw Aboriginal children removed from their families and adopted into white households. Lifelike yet lifeless, the dolls carry an eerie emotional charge. Deacon exploits this familiarity to provoke a visceral reckoning with the injustice of child removal, while using everyday objects and kitsch Aboriginalia to critique colonisation and racial stereotyping.

John Packham

Ngarrindjeri 1966–

Petin – to abduct, steal

1999 Encounter Bay, Victor Harbour, South Australia

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Purchased, 1999
1999.332

This painting was inspired by my mother’s grief. She still suffers, along with so many others, because she was taken, stolen at birth, back in the mid-1900s and institutionalised at Colebrook Home, Eden Hills … White men got the idea to take away children, babies up to teenagers, from their families. Most were taken by force, or by forced signing of legal documents. The white men either came in groups, or singly, with guns. A lot of parents sent their children off to hide in the bushes, which I’ve depicted. I’ve also shown the great grief of the mother.

– John Packham, 1999

Karla Dickens

Wiradjuri 1967–

The weight of grief

2014 Warrane/Sydney

mixed media

Purchased, NGV Supporters of First Nations Art, 2025
2025.16.a-c

New acquisition

LOST MILK

Hush-a-bye the glowing moon lights sad songs across old countries sinking in shallow sleep dreams of endless lost I hold you in my arms

Hush-a-bye the new moon rises over dry tears across old rivers for my sweet lonely one hidden by strange lands I hold you in my arms

Hush-a-bye the dark moon grieves across old western skies connected to my breast crying to unknown smiles I hold you in my arms

Hush-a-bye the blue moon weeps across old barren valleys searching for your smell cords wrapped around deep wombs I hold you in my arms

Hush-a-bye the waxing moon searches across old warrior paths nestling arching breasts memories keep eye contact I hold you in my arms

Hush-a-bye lullaby never goodbye I hold you in my arms

– Karla Dickens

William Strutt

English 1825–62

Maria Elizabeth O’Mullane and her children

c. 1854

oil on canvas

Purchased, 1976
A33-1976

Maria Elizabeth Barber arrived in the Port Phillip District in 1839 on the same ship as her future husband, surgeon Dr Arthur O’Mullane. By the early 1850s she had given birth to five children, yet her story was shadowed by repeated and profound loss. This portrait was painted soon after the death of Maria’s son Frederick in 1851. Depicted here are Jeremiah – wearing the customary dress for a young boy – who died in 1856; Arthur, with his book; and George, with bow and arrow, both of whom later became captains of Melbourne’s cricket teams. Arthur and George died within a year of each other in the mid 1860s, just two years after their father’s passing. Only Maria and her daughter, Ann Eliza, survived. When Ann and her husband died in 1883, Maria once again stepped into a caregiving role, raising Ann’s five children alone in later life.

Frame: reproduction, 2002, slip original

Augustus Friedrich Albrecht Schenck

Danish 1828–1901, worked in France c. 1857–1901

Anguish
Angoisse

c. 1878

oil on canvas

Purchased, 1880
p.307.6-1

In keeping with the nineteenth-century tradition of using animals to reflect human psychology, the artist endows the ewe in Anguish with recognisably human characteristics such as determination and sorrow, encouraging the viewer to identify immediately with its predicament and emotional state. With her body angled protectively, almost shield-like over the young, the ewe becomes a powerful symbol of maternal love, instinct and self-sacrifice. In contrast, the sinister murder of crows appear organised and patient, waiting for a moment of weakness. Through this tension, the artist uses the animal subject to metaphorically examine the broader human condition.

Frame: original, maker unknown

Käthe Kollwitz

German 1867–1945

Run over
Űberfahren

1910

soft-ground etching

Felton Bequest, 1944
1364-4

Shaped by personal tragedies and the suffering she witnessed around her, Käthe Kollwitz developed an artistic vision around the themes of motherhood, grief and resistance. She was deeply affected by the plight of Berlin’s working class, which she encountered through her doctor husband, as well as by her oldest son’s life-threatening diphtheria infection in 1908. When he became ill, she wrote in a letter to her friend Beate Bonus-Jeep:

You know, Jeep, I have had worries about the children, but this naked fear that grips you when you feel, know, that within the next few minutes this young life will be cut short and the child will be gone – this has been the most horrible feeling for me, and it is something I won’t get over so quickly.

Julia Margaret Cameron

English 1815–79, lived in England 1864–75, Ceylon 1875–79

Mrs Herbert Duckworth, her son George, Florence Fisher and H. A. L. Fisher

c. 1871

albumen silver photograph

Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of the Herald & Weekly Times Limited, Fellow, 1979
PH16-1979

In this portrait, Julia Duckworth sits for her aunt, Julia Margaret Cameron, one of the nineteenth century’s most esteemed photographers. The photograph was taken only four years after the sudden death of Duckworth’s husband, Herbert, which left her widowed with three infant children. Reflecting on this period, her second husband Leslie Stephen wrote, ‘a cloud rested even upon her maternal affections … she had accepted sorrow as her lifelong partner.’ Here, Julia is dressed in mourning, with her son George on her lap and two of her sister Mary’s children by her side.

Hans Memling

German/Flemish c. 1430/40–94

The Man of Sorrows in the arms of the Virgin

1475 or 1479

oil and gold leaf on wood panel

Felton Bequest, 1924
1335-3

Originally from a small town near Frankfurt am Main, Hans Memling became a citizen of Bruges in the Burgundian Netherlands in 1465 where he remained until his death. This panel represents Christ as an image of pity, a type of devotional image created to inspire emotional engagement within the viewer. Fervent prayer in front of harrowing images like this one, was considered to hasten the soul’s passage through the pains of Purgatory. Here, Christ appears open-eyed and thus ‘alive’ but with the wounds of His crucifixion on display. He is cradled in the arms of his mother, whose sorrowful expression heightens the overall pathos of the scene. Behind the pair, Memling depicts figures and symbols related to the Passion of Christ.

Frame: reproduction, 1994

Bashir Baraki

American 1943–98, worked in New Zealand 1966–77, arrived in Australia 1977

Untitled

1978–87

from the Lebanon series 1978–87

polaroid photographs

Gift from the Estate of the artist, 2000
2000.11

Bashir Baraki’s parents were born in Lebanon, returning as a young family between 1948 and 1952. In this work, Baraki responds to the Lebanese Civil War through a collage of coloured polaroid photographs based on images published in magazines such as Time and Newsweek. The artist’s reframing challenges our perception of images of war, the impact of which has often been softened through overexposure in press and media outlets. Although the photographs relate to specific events, the images carry a universal meaning: the grieving women become a powerful representation of those who have lost family or friends due to violence.

Judith Wright

Australian 1945–

A journey

2011–12

various found objects, wood, metal, bamboo, cork, fibreglass, glass, sequins, tin, rubber, synthetic polymer paint, palm fronds, synthetic fur, synthetic hair

Gift of an anonymous donor through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2015
2015.108.a-ooo

Judith Wright’s deeply personal installation responds to the death of her young daughter and the unrealised possibilities of a life cut short. The figures move as a ghostly procession, suggesting a passage into another realm. In this work, Wright imagines a life beyond loss, where the boundaries between the conscious and unconscious blur. The work points to shared humanity and the fragility of existence. Influenced by her reading of Plato and Pliny the Elder, Wright became interested in the symbolic power of shadows. These ideas, together with her own story, converge in this haunting installation.

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Pear/no Pair/Oh Pere – October 9, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Miscarriage/Ms. Carnage – October 25–26, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Rupture – October 30, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Broken dream diagram – November 2, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Now and then – November 2, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Untitled (Dancing couple) – November 2, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Chart and ovaries – c. November 2, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Cactus rape – November 8, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Cactus stab – November 8/9, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Manuel and Joanne on pear – November 9, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Magic act – November 10, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Untitled (Woman/flower/snail) – November 11, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Untitled (Joanne, frog and sperm) – November 11, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Death – November 13, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Condom with stamps – November 13, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Reproduction – November 15, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Love letter – November 16, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Tears/tears – November 26, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Christmas list – November 28, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Spiral shells and snail shell – November 29, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Untitled (Egg and penis) – November 29, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Untitled (Two shells) – November 29, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

She shells – November 29, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Clam shell/birth – November 30, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Untitled (Cowry shells) – November 30, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Letter from Dad – November (no date), 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Censored journal page (Romanticism is ultimately fatal and 1964 police photograph of Gerri Santoro) – October 30 (approx.)

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Untitled (Horse tramples baby) – November 30, 1973

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Joanne Leonard

American 1940–

Appendix of Journal

from the Journal of a Miscarriage series 1973

inkjet print

ed. 3/5

Ruth Margaret Houghton Bequest, 2026

New acquisition

Over five decades, Joanne Leonard has built a conceptual photography practice informed by feminist thought. Her work draws upon periods of her own personal difficulties. Journal of a Miscarriage is Leonard’s most widely recognised body of work, created in 1973, the same year the Supreme Court of the United States delivered its ruling on Roe v. Wade. Comprising twenty-nine collages, the series traces the fifty-three days before, during and after the artist’s miscarriage, moving through the feelings of anticipation and joy to grief and anger.

It might be difficult for a contemporary reader to appreciate how unusual it was at this time to make or find acceptance for art about an intensely personal subject like miscarriage. Artistic precedents that existed were largely unknown or rarely seen by artists of my generation. Not long after I finished the miscarriage journal, I discovered Frida Kahlo’s 1934 paintings about her own miscarriage. I felt a sense of connection to this work, and gratitude to the newly active women’s movement for its efforts to restore missing women artists to their rightful places in history.

– Joanne Leonard, Being in Pictures: An Intimate Photo Memoir, 2008

Top row, left to right:

Polixeni Papapetrou

Australian 1960–2018

I am a camera

2018

from the MY HEART – still full of her series 2018

photo-screenprint, metallic foil, water-based pigment

Gift of Olympia, Solomon and Robert Nelson in memory of Polixeni Papapetrou, 2026

To(ge)ther

2018

from the MY HEART – still full of her series 2018

photo-screenprint, metallic foil, water-based pigment

Gift of Olympia, Solomon and Robert Nelson in memory of Polixeni Papapetrou, 2026

I once was

2018

from the MY HEART – still full of her series 2018

photo-screenprint, metallic foil, water-based pigment

Gift of Olympia, Solomon and Robert Nelson in memory of Polixeni Papapetrou, 2026

New acquisitions

Bottom row, left to right:

Polixeni Papapetrou

Australian 1960–2018

My ghost

2018

from the MY HEART – still full of her series 2018

photo-screenprint, metallic foil, water-based pigment

Gift of Olympia, Solomon and Robert Nelson in memory of Polixeni Papapetrou, 2026

The gaze

2018

from the MY HEART – still full of her series 2018

photo-screenprint, metallic foil, water-based pigment

Gift of Olympia, Solomon and Robert Nelson in memory of Polixeni Papapetrou, 2026

Muse

2018

from the MY HEART – still full of her series 2018

photo-screenprint, metallic foil, water-based pigment

Gift of Olympia, Solomon and Robert Nelson in memory of Polixeni Papapetrou, 2026

New acquisitions

Polixeni Papapetrou

Australian 1960–2018

Thousand yard stare

2018

from the MY HEART – still full of her series 2018

photo-screenprint, metallic foil, water-based pigment

Gift of Olympia, Solomon and Robert Nelson in memory of Polixeni Papapetrou, 2026

This group of works is from the last exhibition mounted in Polixeni Papapetrou’s lifetime. Prophetically titled MY HEART – still full of her, this series is an eloquent summation of maternal love and Papapetrou’s fascination with photography as a medium for storytelling. Partnering self-portraits from the start of her career with images of her daughter, Olympia, from her archive, Papapetrou mined the complexity of the relationships that were central to her life and work. Curator Natalie King, the artist’s close friend, encapsulated this, writing, ‘Here, mother and daughter are almost interchangeable, revealing their profoundly intimate relationship. Highly attuned and watchful, Papapetrou’s unembellished style possesses an unequivocal intensity and familiarity.’

New acquisition

Maternal legacies

Through care, teaching and creative practice, mothers pass on knowledge, stories and ways of making – inheritances that connect past, present and future.

Many works here reflect collaborative art-making between mothers and their children. This holds particular significance within First Nations communities across Australia, where cultural knowledge is often shared through collective practice. This can be seen in the woven animals made by mother and daughter artists Lena Djamarayku and Lena Yarinkura. For them, as well as many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, making together sustains connections to Country, kinship and culture, ensuring cultural knowledge endures beyond a single lifetime.

Works made by mother and daughter artists Guruwuy Marrinyina and Malaluba Gumana trace inheritance through learning and adaptation. Artistic skills handed down from mother to child appear in paired works, in which shared techniques are reworked through individual expression. Here continuity sits alongside change, revealing inheritance as a living process – shaped and reshaped over time.

Together the works in this room consider maternal legacy not as something fixed, but as something held, practised and carried forward through making.

Hannah Brontë

Wakka Wakka/Yaegl 1991–

EYE HEAR U MAGIK

2020 Brisbane, Queensland

colour digital video, sound

Commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased with funds donated by Vicki Vidor OAM and Peter Avery, 2021
2021.54

Director of photography: Kate O’Sullivan Animation: Tristan Jalleh Sound composition: Jesse Koroi Vocalists: Ofa Fanaika, Saraima Navara Performers: Yula Monkland, Brittany and Stefanie Noffke, Pleaides Liddle-Christie, Frankie Jaiyola, Murrawahh Maroochy Johnson, Aminata Morseu-Diop Bubba performers: Jaxx Monkland, Cylus Liddle-Christie

Through this work, Hannah Brontë examines the transmission of ancestral intuition among Aboriginal people in the wake of colonisation. Using music and film, Brontë engages with intuitive beliefs and knowledge, referred to as ‘the knowing’, ‘the cunning’ and ‘illpunja’, exploring how this understanding persists across generations. This work considers the ongoing appropriation of Brontë’s culture and spiritual practices, while offering insight into the foreboding futures shaped by these histories.

Hannah Brontë

Wakka Wakka/Yaegl 1991–

EYE HEAR U MAGIK

2020 Brisbane, Queensland

colour digital video, sound

Commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased with funds donated by Vicki Vidor OAM and Peter Avery, 2021
2021.54

EYE HEAR U MAGIK explores the mother, the doula, the sister, the twins, the oracle, the orator and the new born. Understanding that, yes, we inherit grief and sadness through our familial lines but we also inherit joy, skill, Magik, cheekiness, psychic abilities and physical strength.

– Hannah Brontë, 2025

Lena Yarinkura

Rembarrnga c. 1960–

Jamu (Camp dog)

2001

earth pigments on Paperbark (Melaleuca sp.) and pandanus (Pandanus sp.), feathers, glass

Presented through the NGV Foundation in memory of Axel Poignant by an anonymous donor, 2001
2001.572

Lena Yarinkura learnt weaving from her late mother, Lena Djamarrayku. Together, they created fibre and paperbark figures of dogs and bush animals, as well as ancestral beings such as yawkyawk (mermaid-like spirits), crocodiles and wurum (fish-increasing spirits). This shared practice laid the foundation for Yarinkura’s pioneering fibre sculptures, which continue to bring Country, ancestral stories and culture to life. Throughout her career, Yarinkura has also drawn inspiration from her ‘classificatory’ mother through kinship, Mary Karlbirra, a woman who is not a biological mother but is referred to as ‘mother’ within a specific social system, further enriching her practice.

Lena Djamarayku

Rembarrnga 1943–2005

Echidna

1998

earth pigments on paperbark (Melaleuca sp.), wood and pandanus (Pandanus sp.) fibre, echidna quills

Purchased, 1998
1998.342

Mary Beale

English 1633–99

Portrait of the artist’s son, Bartholomew Beale

c. 1660

oil on paper on canvas

Gift of Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Family through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
2020.90

Mary Beale was the most successful woman artist working in England in the seventeenth century, becoming the family’s breadwinner when she established a studio in London in 1670. In this intimate portrait, the artist’s son Bartholomew is shown at around five years of age. Like his father and his brother Charles, Bartholomew worked in his mother’s studio as a young man, assisting her with the painting of draperies and other accessories while her husband managed the studio. While his brother went on to become a painter himself, Bartholomew studied medicine at Clare College, Cambridge, later practising as a physician in Coventry.

Vivienne Binns

Australian 1940–

Laura (Lowe) Wilkinson and Harriet (Chatwin) Lowe

1975–76

vitreous enamel on steel

Purchased, 1995
1995.722.a-b

Vivienne Binns has long been recognised as a crucial figure in feminist Australian art, and for the duration of her career she has confronted subjects of colonialism, environmentalism, sexuality and censorship. Picturing the artist’s grandmother and great-grandmother, this work reflects Binns’s commitment to revealing the stories of women traditionally rendered invisible in art history: in this case, the lives of two women from her own family. Binns continued drawing on her own and others’ family recollections in subsequent works, notably her now famous community art project Mothers’ memories others’ memories, 1979–81, in which she invited participants to share ‘anecdotes, letters, diaries, handcrafts, photos from family albums.’

Mitch Mahoney

made in collaboration with his mother, Kerri Clarke

Boonwurrung/Barkindji 1997–

Baba (Mother), possum skin cloak

2023

possum skin, earth pigments, synthetic polymer paint, (waxed thread)

Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2025

This work represents Mitch Mahoney’s connection to his maternal Boonwurrung heritage, Country and Community. As cloak making is traditionally practiced by women, Mahoney worked with his mother and sister to create this piece, an act of meaningful connection and knowledge sharing within a family. The cloak’s intricate designs have been painted with ochre, sourced from Victoria, and pearlescent powder, which reference the integral system of abalone reefs within Boonwurrung waterways. The cloak also signals that importance of preserving the abalone reefs in the region.

New acquisition

Daroga Ram

Indian 1953–

Screen
Jaali

2017

clay, bamboo, wood, coir

Purchased NGV Foundation, 2019
2019.623

For kids

Have you ever felt lonely? Indian artist Sona Bai Rajwar did too. As a young woman, she spent a lot of her time at home by herself, and later caring for her son. To keep herself happy, she made small animals and people using clay and straw from her courtyard. Sona Bai filled her house with these bright, cheerful creatures so that they could keep her company! She also shared her special way of making art with her son, Daroga Ram.

Years later, people from her village came to visit Sona Bai’s home to admire her wonderful creations. Today Daroga teaches other family members how to create art just like his mother did.

Guruwuy Murrinyina

Yolŋu 1975–

Dhatam

2023

earth pigments on stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.)

Purchased with funds donated by Barbara Hay and the Hay Family, Beatrice Moignard, Andrew Michelmore AO and Janet Michelmore AO and anonymous, 2023
2023.754

Guruwuy Murrinyina assisted her mother, Malaluba, with painting Gälpu clan imagery until Malaluba’s passing in February 2020. Overcome by grief and in observance of spiritual protocols, Guruwuy refrained from painting for two years. When she returned to the practice, she adapted her mother’s designs and palette, drawing on the expertise she had witnessed over many years. At first, the Yolŋu community felt her work too closely resembled Malaluba’s. In response, Guruwuy refined her use of ochre, shifting her aesthetic in a new direction. Like her mother, she depicts the iconography of the Wititj (olive python), who travelled through Gälpu clan lands and beyond during wangarr (ancestral) times, creating ripples and rainbows across the dark surface of the water.

Malaluba Gumana

Yolŋu 1954–2020

Dhatam (Waterlilies)

2017

earth pigments on stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.)

Purchased with funds donated by Elizabeth Foster, 2018
2018.1338.1-5

Tui Emma Gillies

Tongan/Aotearoa New Zealander 1980–

Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows

Tongan/Aotearoa New Zealander 1947–

Pacifika Ocean

2024

Tongan feta’aki (tapa cloth), umea (red earth from Falevai, Vava’u) tapioca starch (organic glue), acrylic, ink and vintage kupesi

Purchased with funds donated by Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Family and Christopher Thomas AM and Cheryl Thomas, 2024
2024.983

Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows and Tui Emma Gillies are Tongan New Zealand mother-daughter collaborators. Combining traditional techniques with contemporary elements, their large-scale tapa cloth celebrates the abundance of marine life – dolphins, albatrosses and humpback whales – found in the waters off Kaikōura on Aotearoa New Zealand’s East Coast. This work also highlights the importance of communities coming together to protect the ocean from the impacts of climate change.

I am a New Zealand Tongan artist specialising in tapa art, which I consider to be a sacred practice handed down to me through my mother, her mother, and a long line of female ancestors who still guide me in my work. The fibres of the ngatu (Tongan bark cloth) are intertwined with my DNA.

My work mixes the contemporary with the traditional and this can be challenging, confronting and controversial … but always with respect to the roots of the medium and those who practised it before me.

I believe that as the world succumbs to the allure of AI, a yearning will develop for authentic handcrafted art rooted in unique and deeply personal visions of the sometimes ecstatic and sometimes harrowing experience of being human.

– Tui Emma Gillies, 2026

I am a lifelong practitioner of the Tongan heritage arts, with particular devotion to tapa decorating, weaving and making kahoa heilala necklaces. My aim and my vocation is to make art that is both beautiful and timeless, and that is a credit to the family and cultural tradition of which I am merely a link in the chain. My mission is to raise awareness about the importance of heritage arts in a quickly changing world, and I particularly enjoy collaborating with and passing my knowledge and skills on to my daughter Tui Emma Gillies and granddaughter Aroha Heilala Gillies.

– Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows, 2026

Teju Jogi

Indian c. 1959–

Traffic in the city

2020

ink on paper

Purchased, NGV Supporters of Asian Art, 2021
2021.23

Teju Jogi and her husband, Ganesh of the Jogi community in Rajasthan, were performers of devotional songs until the 1970s. The drought and urbanisation of their village forced them to move to Ahmedabad, where they worked as manual labourers. They were encouraged by the cultural anthropologist Haku Shah, to visually record their stories by drawing the narratives they performed in Rajasthan. In response, the family developed the unique and distinctive Jogi narrative style of ink drawing on paper that today is exclusively practiced by three generations of Jogi’s, including Teju and Ganesh’s daughter Soni, who’s work is displayed here alongside her mother’s.

Soni Jogi

Indian c. 1989–

Empowered mother

2020

ink on paper

Purchased, NGV Supporters of Asian Art, 2021
2021.24

Lucy Williams-Connelly

Waradgerie (Wiradjuri) 1940–

Dilly bags

2024 Swan Hill, Victoria

acrylic yarn

Purchased with funds donated by the NGV Supporters of First Nations Art, 2025
2024.985

As a child, Lucy Williams-Connelly sat beside her mother as she made clothes, quietly absorbing the rhythms of sewing and weaving. In the 1970s she attended basket weaving classes run by the Country Women’s Association. Williams-Connelly spent her childhood travelling across New South Wales, following her father’s work as a shearer and musician. At sixteen, she settled in Swan Hill, Victoria, first working as a carer for an English family and later marrying a local dairy farmer, raising six children of her own. Williams-Connelly also worked as a childcare worker, coordinating an Aboriginal childcare centre where she nurtured children’s artistic confidence. Today as a senior weaver and Elder, she has passed her knowledge on to many, including her daughter Lorraine Connelly-Northey, now an influential contemporary artist.

New acquisition

Left to right:

Lorraine Connelly-Northey

Waradgerie (Wiradjuri) 1962–

Narrbong (String bag)

2005 Swan Hill, Victoria

wire, wire mesh, emu feathers

Purchased with funds donated by Supporters and Patrons of Indigenous Art, 2005
2005.472

Narrbong (String bag)

2005 Swan Hill, Victoria

wire, wire mesh

Purchased with funds donated by Supporters and Patrons of Indigenous Art, 2005
2005.468

Narrbong (String bag)

2005 Swan Hill, Victoria

wire, wire mesh

Purchased with funds donated by Supporters and Patrons of Indigenous Art, 2005
2005.464

Narrbong (String bag)

2005 Swan Hill, Victoria

wire, wire mesh, feathers

Purchased with funds donated by Supporters and Patrons of Indigenous Art, 2005
2005.465

Narrbong (String bag)

2005 Swan Hill, Victoria

wire

Purchased with funds donated by Supporters and Patrons of Indigenous Art, 2005
2005.466

Narrbong (String bag)

2005 Swan Hill, Victoria

wire mesh, echidna quills

Purchased with funds donated by Supporters and Patrons of Indigenous Art, 2005
2005.474

Narrbong (String bag)

2005 Swan Hill, Victoria

wire, wire mesh

Purchased with funds donated by Supporters and Patrons of Indigenous Art, 2005
2005.471

Lorraine Connelly-Northey was taught to weave by her mother, esteemed weaver Lucy Williams-Connelly, whose work is displayed close by. The artist was raised on Wamba Wamba and Wadi Wadi Country, however, relocated to her mother’s Waradgerie land as an adult. There, she gathers materials associated with European settlement for use in her weavings – rusted wire, corrugated iron, discarded fencing – and repurposes them into forms that recall traditional dilly bags and vessels. By combining inherited weaving techniques with the debris of colonial industry, Connelly-Northey explores the intersections of Indigenous and European ways of being, honouring her lineage while highlighting the resilience and ongoing custodianship of Country embodied in Aboriginal cultural practices.

Artists of Ampilatwatja collective

Mparntwe est. 1999

Coleen Ngwarraye Morton

Alyawarr 1957–

Kathleen Nanima Rambler

Alyawarr/Kaytetye 1972–

Rosie Kemarre Morton

Alyawarr 1960–

Elizabeth Ngwarraye Bonney

Alyawarr 1966–

Julieanne Ngwarraye Morton

Alyawarr 1975–

Kindy Kemarre Ross

Alyawarr 1983–

Jacinta Pula Morrison

Alyawarr 1984–

Edie Kemarre Holmes

Alyawarr 1950–

Alana Ngwarraye Holmes

Alyawarr 1970–

Jessie Ngwarraye Ross

Alyawarr 1961–

Denise Ngwarraye Bonney

Alyawarr 1968–

Sevania Kemarre Bonney

Alyawarr 1986–

Latoya Ngwarraye Petrick

Alyawarr 2011–

Dakota Ngwarraye Petrick

Alyawarr 2011–

RLKEYEL (blooming coming out)

2025

synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

Mothers, daughters and sisters, we came together at our small art centre and painted our own story on our big canvas. Some of our artists have been painting long time and some are new to painting. When we paint, we remember the stories passed down through generations. Our mothers and grandmothers taught us where to find plants, what time of year to hunt and the recipe and uses of bush medicines. We sat around that big canvas on the floor and painted strong, we shared stories and remembered the old ladies that sat together long time ago when they were young and painted side by side. We paint Arreth ‘strong bush medicine’, we hunt and gather, we connect to Country, we connect to family, we connect to each other.

– The artists, 2025

Proposed acquisition

Matthew Harris made in collaboration with his mother, Glenice Harris

Koori 1991–

Big love

2021

possum skin, synthetic fur, wax-coated polyester thread, (other materials)

Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2022
2022.819

Standalone works

Tracey Emin

English 1963–

Mother

2014

bronze

ed. 1/6

The Nigel Peck AM and Patricia Peck Fund, 2024
2024.130

Tracey Emin’s work explores memories and deeply personal experiences in frank, poetic and intimate ways. Despite its title, Mother does not depict motherhood in a traditional or literal sense. Instead, the work considers the notion of a ‘failed mother,’ drawing on Emin’s own experiences while reflecting on absence, longing and the complicated nature of maternal identity.

The work is about rites of passage, of time and age, and the simple realisation that we are always alone.

– Tracey Emin, 2014

New acquisition

Julie Rrap

Australian 1950–, lived in Europe 1986–94

Madonna

1984

cibachrome photograph

Michell Endowment, 1984
DC14-1984

Julie Rrap dissects and subverts the conventional imagery of women in art history, so often depicted as ‘the Madonna’. During her time in Europe in the early 1980s, Rrap was struck by the significant underrepresentation of women in major contemporary art shows. This work is from her Persona and Shadow series, in which she responds to this observation, taking the outlines of work by Edvard Munch and incorporating fractured photographic self-portraits. Her resulting vision counters the dominant narrative of women’s representation in the art world.

Ulrike Rosenbach

German 1943–

Reflections on the Birth of Venus
Reflexionen über die Geburt der Venus

1976/1978

colour video transferred to digital video, sound

18 min

Purchased, 1979
EA4-1979

A pioneer of feminist media and performance art, Ulrike Rosenbach confronts Botticelli’s iconic painting, Birth of Venus, which continues to inform contemporary ideals of feminine beauty. The painting, as Rosenbach wrote in 1975, is ‘a cliché of the erotic adaptation of woman to the sexual needs of men.’ Referencing an earlier work, Rosenbach – at the time a single mother – explains:

My work is an engagement with my own identity as a woman. This includes a confrontation with the historical cultural image of women: the woman as mother, as housewife, as prostitute to men, as saint, as virgin, or as Amazon.

Elvis Richardson

Australia born 1965

Settlement and the gatekeepers

2022–23 Naarm/Melbourne

powder-coated steel

Commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2023
2023.727

Elvis Richardson employs kitsch, form and
satire to expose the inherent contradictions of contemporary, commodified life. Settlement and the gatekeepers expands on Richardson’s broader ongoing investigation into the domestic sphere as a site for understanding the human condition. The work comprises a series of metal sculptures made from modified domestic gates, presenting new, pastel-coloured objects. Each gate is reworked to feature commonly used synonyms of the word ‘settlement’. In English-language thesauruses, the word ‘treaty’ is seldom listed as a synonym for the word ‘settlement’, but the inverse is frequently true. Settlement and the gatekeepers questions this linguistic oversight and asks: Who are the gatekeepers?

Settlement and the gatekeepers is grounded in questions of colonialism and property, yet it also reflects on the intimate architectures of family life. The work evokes (or uses) the familiar forms of domestic space, hinting at the social and economic forces that shape women’s experiences of home, security and belonging. For mothers and primary carers, the idea of ‘settling down’ often conceals forms of containment and labour that remain unseen and undervalued.

My own understanding of motherhood and power has been shaped by adoption, an experience that reveals how the state can intervene in women’s bodies, fertility, family formation and inheritance. Adoption sits at the heart of my practice, illuminating the ways legitimacy and cultural legacy are constructed and controlled. As an adopted person, the separation from my mother, identity and biological family was formalised through law, a reminder of how personal histories are often rewritten through institutional systems of authority.

– Elvis Richardson, 2025

Tracey Moffatt

Australian 1960–

Gary Hillberg editor

Australian 1982–

Mother

2009

colour digital video, sound

ed. 73/200

Purchased NGV Foundation, 2012
2012.310

MOTHER is a twenty-minute montage of Hollywood movie clips depicting unforgettable ‘mother’ characters. Gary and I have cut together scenes of Mothers from some of the greatest dramatic movies ever made. For example: Stella Dallas (1937), where Mother (Barbara Stanwyck) is not invited to her daughter’s wedding and watches it standing outside in the rain; Imitation of Life (1959) in which the fair-skinned Daughter (Susan Kohner) can’t acknowledge her black mother (Juanita Moore). Scenes like these have always cut me up.

MOTHER is a roller-coaster of emotions: fight scenes between mothers and daughters, but also comedic moments and scenes where a lot of love is shown. Included are funny clips from 1970s TV shows, such as Mary Tyler Moore (where Rhoda’s Mother – Nancy Walker – comes to visit), and Maude (Bea Arthur), featuring television’s favorite Feminist Mum. The montage ends dramatically as Mothers turn into heroic protectors of their young. In Aliens (1986) a machine-gun toting Sigourney Weaver yells: ‘get away from her you B…h!’ MOTHER ends with a scene of a pregnant Native American woman trudging in the snow to give birth. A message of the film could be very simply: ‘It is tough to be a Mother.’

– Tracey Moffatt, 2009

MOTHERArtwork Labels & Didactics

Exhibition Introduction

Birth of a mother

Milk

Baby bubble

Supermum

Bad mother

Magic maker

Invisible mother

My mother

To love and to lose

Maternal legacies

Standalone works

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MOTHER
Artwork Labels & Didactics