Good Mom/Bad Mom

The depiction of mother and child is one of the best-known art historical motifs: the Central Museum’s collection features dozens of portraits – often romanticised – of St Mary and her baby Jesus. With Good Mom/Bad Mom, the museum breaks with the cliché of the ‘good mother’ and unravels the myths surrounding motherhood by showing perspectives that have long been invisible. It focuses on wishful parenthood, loss, roles beyond traditional biological motherhood, emancipation and self-determination issues.

In a transhistorical way, creators such as Louise Bourgeois & Tracey Emin, Rineke Dijkstra, Marlene Dumas, Luchita Hurtado, Camille Henrot, Käthe Kollwitz, Tala Madani, Patricia Cherrywood, Charley Toorop and Billie Zangewa show motherhood, care and self-determination in all its facets. Especially for the exhibition, guest curator Trudy Dehue compiled a cabinet, where she uses historical books, prints and anatomical models to explain how knowledge about pregnancies came about.

Cover Image: Tala Madani, Shit Mom (Quads), 2019