The Motherchild Machine n.7, 2019
Photographic prints, archival paper, wooden structure,
52 x 52 x 7 cm 3 panels
Original performance commissioned by Procreate Project for Oxytocin19
Installed in Guys chapel, King's College, London
Birth Rites Collection

Must she always be loving, caring, perfect and ideal? Must he always be passive and take the role of the victim? Can a portrait of mother and child depict a spectrum of emotions rather than a singular feeling as the mother-child theme was narrated in classical iconography?

Leni Dothan challenges the iconography of mother and child by creating a confrontational wooden structure for them as two individuals, instead of depicting them both as an inseparable loving unit presented to the viewer. Dothan and her 8 years old son will explore this structure and confront each other in front of the camera.

This work is part of Dohan's ongoing research of the mother's role in Christian iconography and biblical narratives as they were depicted in Renaissance art, creating visual contracts between women and the church, between women and the state, between women and men, and between mothers and their children. These contracts perhaps, were not deliberately made to control women but did have an undeniable effect upon mothers’ psyche and the way they are perceived by others. She examines mother's iconography as ideological and emotional prisons for women and especially mothers. With her new icons, she aims to redefine the roles of mothers, raising questions about the representation of mothers in art throughout history and by doing so, allowing for a new discourse.