“Like motherhood, it’s emotive and unexpected . . .”

From the trenches of motherhood, MOTHER: Stories from the NGV Collection creates critical discussion about a relatable subject. An exhibition to engage and connect. Curated by Katharina Prugger and Sophie Gerhard, MOTHER removes the rose-tinted glasses; it’s raw, honest, and at times, terrifying. It comes at a time when mothers and motherhood are a hot topic in the arts and active in the contemporary discourse. Equally, it’s a time where modern mothers are live-streamed a genocide of innocent children and mothers crying in the streets – directly into their hands as they breastfeed the next generation. As a mother of two little ones, I can’t help but feel this tension of celebrating motherhood, while watching so many suffer.

This tension is explored through the exhibition. MOTHER isn’t what you’d expect, but also in ways, it is. Employing the metaphor of the ‘mother lifecycle,’ the exhibition is split into three overarching themes: ‘creating, giving, and leaving.’ The Virgin Mary alongside the depictions of Bad Mothers. Mothers from the Western art canon next to the experiences of First Nations mothers.

Alongside European and global perspectives, MOTHER includes unflinching portrayals of motherhood in Australia. The Stolen Generations and years of trauma are depicted in new commissions and works from the NGV’s collection. For example, Quandamooka artist Kyra Mancktelow’s One continuous string, 2021, sculpture, recreated from the dress her grandma was forced to wear at Moongalba (Myora) mission. “It’s this beautiful, suspended, woven dress, which is modelled on her granny’s mission dress, and she speaks to the Indigenous ways of life, culture, and practice being suppressed,” says Prugger.

Spanning ten rooms (plus the cinema room showing Tracey Moffatt, Mother, 2009), the exhibition includes over 200 diverse artworks, from paintings, drawings, video, and sculpture. It’s a journey. Like motherhood, it’s emotive and unexpected, and right when you are beginning to get a handle on it, it changes. Hannah Brontë’s immersive video installation, EYE HEAR U MAGIK, 2020, forces a pause and adds a portal to invoke a foreboding sense of the future. “We’re trying to tell so many different perspectives and experiences, and representations of motherhood,” says Gerhard. “I hope that people see themselves in this show; everybody has a relationship with the story of motherhood in some way.”

The curators trawled through the NGV’s collection, including classic works such as Antonio da Correggio’s Madonna and Child with infant Saint John the Baptist, c.1514–5, juxtaposed by the raw, and deeply moving 1974 photography series of birth by Christine Godden. Adding unexpected elements like Francisco Goya y Lucientes’ etching Where is mother going? (Donde vá mamá?), 1797–8, and Queen Victoria’s intimate sketch of her daughter and nanny, ensures the exhibition is compellingly suspenseful. Additionally, new acquisitions allowed the NGV to develop its collection to include a varied representation of mothers, including thirty prints by American artist Joan Leonard depicting miscarriage.

From artist mothers to mother artists, and from non-biological mothers to queer and First Nations mothers, MOTHER: Stories from the NGV Collection captures the shifting attitudes towards the representation of mothers in the art world – encouraging deeper reflection on society, culture, and history. A capturing of this moment in time. The exhibition is free, and with so many works, it invites repeat visits. Ones to be experienced with your family, or alone. Time to muse on the role of mothers, and the privilege to mother.

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Emma-Kate Wilson is an art and design writer and editor based on Gumbaynggirr Country (Bellingen, New South Wales).

 

The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia 
Until 12 July 2026
Melbourne

Originally published in print – Art Almanac, May 2026 issue, pp. 20–23