Re-imag(in)ing the digital domestic sphere: a critical-creative study of photography and motherhood in the 21st century

Abstract

My research explores the relationship between photography and motherhood and, more specifically, the cultural construction of motherhood through digital photographs. The methodology of this critical-creative investigation involves two parts: 1) a case study analysis of select images of the author's children from her personal digital photography collections and 2) the development of a digital platform that encourages reflective engagement in domestic photographs and values the ambiguity and complexity of motherhood. Here, I demonstrate how the contextualization and design of visual media can restore historical specificity to domestic images and enable them to reflect personal experiences of motherhood.