Nita's Mother's Day Project for 2005 (for men too) Dear Friends, Sally (my daughter) sent me an email about Mother's day. I'm copying the original Mother's Day proclamation showing that the day was created not as commercialism, not in order to treat mothers for being such nice guys, but it was originally a day organised by women to stand up against war and destruction, against seeing their children slaughtered by warmongers. So I've decided to spend it next year doing something meaningful towards that end. Any ideas welcome...we have a year to discuss it. Meanwhile, here's the extract and the website of the full article below. Hope you all had a happy mother's day. It would truly be a mother's day to know that war will never be again!...O...and if you're not a mother, you're either a daughter or a son...so in one direction or another you're connected to motherhood...so you're not excluded from the project. At the end of the day, motherhood is about care, nurture and growth, which you, my friends, all do in different ways. cheers nita PS: long live idealism! Here is the original, pre-Hallmark, Mother's Day Proclamation, penned in Boston by Julia Ward Howe in 1870: Arise, then, women of this day! How it works: INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE VIDEO INSTALLATION PROJECT: MOTHER'S DAY , 2005. THE PROJECT Hello My Wonderful Webist Friends!! Our Mother’s Day Project begins!! Whether we
are male, female, mother, daughter, son, father or a
combination of some or all we each have a concept of what
motherhood is all about. We also have a concept of
where mothers might stand in regards to war. We can take
the idea of motherhood and what a mother means from many
angles: the carer; the nurturer; the disciplinarian; the
manager; the person who refuses to send her/his children
or other peoples’ children to war; the person who
dedicates his/her children to die for a cause; the person
who sells their child for food; the person who refuses to
do it; the person who works extra hours to give their
child a better education; the person who takes their
child out from school early to go out to work; the
incompetent housefrau; the pushy ambitious mother; the
mother who forgets her baby on the tennis court (yes,
it’s happened); the person who makes you eat the
food you hate most; the person who makes your favourite
dish…the list goes on…. And then there
are all the grey areas in between. It’s
time that an international group of artists such as us re-examines
and portrays our notions of motherhood. WHERE
IT’S AT At present I
am proposing a video installation by Webists on
Motherhood to some key galleries here in So, to get
it moving, I need your images reflecting your views of
Motherhood. You don’t have to stick to one
view only; depict any views that are meaningful to you.
You can be humorous, serious, both. To
participate, here’s what you have to do:- Please put
two folders with the following on a CD and mail it to me
at the address below no later than December 24, 2004. 1.
In a folder labeled IMAGES: 15
images, no less than 800x600 pixels at 300 ppi in .jpg
format, reflecting your view/views of motherhood. a.
(Optional) If you wish to add words to complement
your series of images, go ahead, with the constraint that
they should not be more than 36 words in total for the
full fifteen. I shall have the words crawl across
the images slowly. If you would like words to crawl
across your images, please put them in a Word document. 2.
In a folder labeled with your full name as you
would have it displayed on the video: a.
A photo of yourself, no less than 800x600 at 300 ppi in .jpg
format. b.
On a Word document:-
i. Your full name, email
and full mailing address.
ii. An answer in no more
than six lines to one of the following
questions. You can be funny, serious, both. 1.
Why did I take the trouble to design a series of images
for Mother’s Day 2005? (and not bec. Nita
asked me for them!!!) 2. Should we celebrate Mother’s Day at all? Give reasons. 3.
What does your art series say about Motherhood? 4.
What is your view of motherhood and has your view changed
over the years? If so…how? If not, why
not? 5.
Who is your favourite mother figure in history
that you feel strongly about, one way or the other, and
why? 6. What work of art, music or literature reflects a view of motherhood that has made an impression on you and how is this reflected in your work? 7. How distant do you think the portrayal of mothers in art is from the real mothers you have known? How has this affected your work? 8.
Any other question you’d like to answer about
mothers/ mother's day that I
haven’t thought of….ask it and then
answer it. SEND CD
NO LATER THAN JANUARY 31ST, 2005 to: Nita
T. Jawary VIC.
3161 Thanks!
And looking forward to seeing all your great images!! Xx nita
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