The MotherLine

2018

The MotherLine is a contemporary reflection on The Madonna in Italian painting. On large digital prints of Italian Madonnas, specifically those done by the Italian Masters Duccio, Cimabue and Giotto, Stromberg has 'covered over' the entire image in paint, erasing the image and leaving only the underlying shapes of the historic works. She has then scraped back into the works, peeling away the paint with drawings that relate to different contemporary domestic situations of mothering, with a particular emphasis on experiences of illness and healing. Reflecting on ideas of re-covery in relation to the sacred mother, MotherLine attempts to problematize and re-contextualize this historic idiom of art, collapsing ideological and patriarchal constructions of motherhood, while highlighting the inter-relational and spiritual lessons of mothering and art through and outside of time.

The MotherLine was first presented in May 2018 at The Matricentric Feminism conference at Syracuse University in Florence. It will also be presented at Le Murate PAC as part of L'Eredità Delle Donne festival in September 2018. http://ereditadelledonne.eu.