Story of Mum is an inspirational home for creative mums. This website shares words, photos, film and audio from mums, grandmas and great-grandmas worldwide, to create a global portrait of motherhood. This Virtual exhibition, ‘Story of Mum: Making an exhibition of ourselves,’ brings together Story of Mum and UK parent blogging community BritMums, to share the stories of Mums around the world.
I was honoured to have been asked to host a mini virtual exhibition as part of this worldwide tour. All hosts have been asked to choose one item from the exhibition so far, create one item and share their thoughts on motherhood and identity. So here’s my offering!
I curated this…
As a poet, I couldn’t not do something with the word submitted as part of the giant collaborative ‘Mum’ poem. I did submit to this poem but none of the words used below are my own – so the poem is an anonymous collective consciousness of parents talking about what it is to be a mother.
Warrior worrier
Life giver
Milk maker
Nappy changer
Writer
Secret biscuit eater
Twitter addicted tea drinker
Bump kisser
Wet wiper
Nightmare comforter
An individual in her own right
Rule maker
Occasional chocolate briber
nit picker
Gentle protector
Excited explorer and amazed follower
Sleep watcher
hand holder
pram pusher
warrior worrier.
You can still add to the main poem if you feel so inspired. If you’re in London on 18 October, you might want to head along to the Story of Mum make date that evening to hear the wonderful Hollie McNish share her version!
I know I’m only supposed to curate one thing, but…
This image in the Mama Mash-up gallery grabbed me. I wasn’t sure whether I liked it at first but something made me go back and look again. The image grew on me.
I love the title. It sums up Motherhood perfectly, for me. Yes, it’s boring (I love that one of the images is a washing machine. So apt)… It’s also beautiful.
Tedious and Terrific
I created this…
Motherhood and identity. It’s a big one.
I have blogged about this already as part of the exhibition but before I share my post, I’ve had some further thoughts about identity in general… Of course becoming a parent has a massive impact on our lives but does it always change the way we identify ourselves? To our children, of course we are ‘Mum/Mummy/Mama’ but we don’t become mothers to anyone but our children (we would hope. I know there are children who parent their parents and partners who do the same but that’s a whole separate blog post. Let’s pretend we all have healthy balanced relationships for the purposes of this one). This is one of the reasons I always feel a little uncomfortable when my son’s nursery keyworkers refer to me as ‘Mum.’ As in: ‘Hello Mum, have you had a nice day?’ I get why they do it, even though they know our names, but still. I know I’m not the only parent who feels a bit weird about it (the dads I’ve spoken to don’t like it either). I want to be ‘Rachael’ to anyone except Mushroom, really…. Because there’s so much more to all of us than being a parent. For me, figuring out who I am is a lifelong journey. I know myself much better now that I did at 20, for example (I’m thirty- *coughs* now). Yes, I’m a Mum. I’m also a communications professional, a writer, a life coach, friend, sister, wife… I’m sure you can all add several ‘titles’ to your identity. And there’s always more to come, isn’t there? It’s not set in stone; we can all change at any time. So for me the only truths that won’t change are these: I’m a Mum…. And I’m still Me.
If you’re interested in hosting a virtual exhibition, or would simply like to head over to see what other hosts have curated and created so far, click on the image above.
I love your poem, Rachael. And your further thoughts on identity. I always called my parents by their first names, and never thought anything of it. Now I’m most definitely a mum, my kids call me mum or mummy, and as an adult, I find myself sometimes calling my parents mum and dad – most often when I write or email them, and it still feels very strange to say it to their face. It also indicated a shift in my relationship with my husband when I started to call him dad – sometimes I still catch myself doing it when the kids are asleep… and notice, taking it as a sign that we need to focus more on us as well as the parenting. Thanks so much for sharing your exhibition. x
Thanks for inviting me to host it! I really enjoyed looking through all the artwork for something to curate.
Great blog post…can completely identify with the wish to remain being ‘me’ and not just being known as a Mum. My husband and I have slipped into the habit of calling each other Mummy and Daddy when our daughter is around & I don’t really like it! When we do call each other by name, our daughter calls us by name too. She seems to slip in and out of calling us Mum & Dad and by our first names on a daily basis!
I know what you mean! I do call my husband ‘Daddy’ when referring to him in front of Mushroom, but like your daughter, her calls him by his first name when I do. He thinks it’s funny. He always calls me Mummy though, regardless of what he hears other people call me. I like that 🙂 Sure it will change though!