TY - DATA T1 - Strangers in a Strange Land: Envisioning the darker side of motherhood PY - 2017/02/21 AU - Sophia Strugnell Xeros-Constantinides UR - https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/thesis/Strangers_in_a_Strange_Land_Envisioning_the_darker_side_of_motherhood/4670458 DO - 10.4225/03/58abd47f4e537 KW - Collage KW - Pregnancy KW - Childbirth KW - Journeying KW - Motherhood KW - Maternity KW - Motherhood experiences KW - Mother-infant KW - Infant KW - Visual art KW - Picturing motherhood KW - Metaphor KW - Smyrna KW - Clinical KW - Psychological KW - Psychoanalytic KW - Fear KW - Darker side KW - Ambivalence KW - Monstrous KW - Loss N2 - Maternity is often idealized within society, where motherhood ‘myths’ paint unachievable pictures of maternal perfection and blissful union with baby. This thesis and studio-based artwork look behind the mask of maternal perfection, at what real women have said and shown of their actual experiences of maternity. The research examines the darker side of motherhood, and how this has been depicted. Through picture-making, I find new visual forms for maternity, based on the metaphor of journeying to connect with baby, and on the use of collage to give visual form to the disruption of the status quo for the woman-mother. ER -