Identity

Identity: In psychology and sociology, identity is a person’s conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations (such as national identity and cultural identity). The concept is given a great deal of attention in social psychology and is important in place identity.

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Pippa from Story of Mum. at Britmums Live. She was very busy at the front of the venue taking photos of us mums for her website. If you havent already heard about it, this is what her wonderful website and this blog post is all about…

As mothers, it’s not often that we feel seen, heard and valued. Yet our everyday stories matter, and sharing them can inspire others. Story of Mum: Mums making an exhibition of ourselves is a touring programme of exhibitions and events in galleries and online that aims to put mothers in the spotlight.

The exhibition celebrates motherhood, explores the impact of mothering on our identities, and encourages mums worldwide to share their stories in words, photos, collage and film.

Find out more at http://www.storyofmum.com/exhibition.

Parallel to the real life events, a virtual exhibition is travelling round the world, stopping for mini exhibitions on blogs – like this one!

Participants are asked to choose one item from the existing exhibition, create one item to add to the exhibition, and share their thoughts on these and their identity in motherhood.

And without further ado…here is my exhibition!

I Curated This

What a choice of things to curate! I have spent hours looking through the website and much as I had a wonderful time looking at all of the creations so far, choosing one for my post was incredibly difficult! I got lost in the memorable moment of mum section for quite a while and wanted to curate everybody, such wonderfully moving posts! In the end I settled on a beautiful video from Stephanie at Storybramble.com from the My Mum-Story. She said in her post that she found it incredibly hard to choose just ten photos to capture her story as a mum and I completely understand how difficult this must’ve been, but the photos she has chosen are amazing and she narrates the video beautifully. You must watch her amazing video here.

I Created This

I decided to make my creation from the Mama Mash-Up section, as I guess that since becoming a mum my identity has been a bit mashed up! At first, as indecisive as ever, I chopped up 6 different pictures that I felt represented my identity as a mum. Two of them were pictures of my favourite quotations, one was a picture of my children, one a picture of my family and close friends and the other two photos were pieces of artwork I had made.

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A bit of a mess as you can see, which is exactly how I feel sometimes if I’m honest! I then decided to intertwine all of the photos as all of them are intricately interwoven in my life.

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But finally, I followed the instructions (for I always get there in the end!) and created this masterpiece for the exhibition from a photo of my children, and a painting I did of some flowers I bought. I’ve entitled it Creations and Creativity.

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I love it, and it’s like me…not quite perfect and a bit fragile (couldn’t find any glue to stick it all together!) yet it works! I love that I have created three beautiful children…and that I can still be creative.
story of mum exhibition
BritMums - Leading the Conversation

6 Comments on Identity

  1. Pippa
    July 23, 2013 at 7:53 am (11 years ago)

    I love your mama mash-up too! It captures the joy of creating in all its different forms so beautifully – which is what we’re most passionate about at story of mum, helping mums to rediscover the value of their own creativity. I love the film from Storybramble too, and your words on identity – for me, refinding my identity after motherhood is all tangled up in rediscovering my creativity. Thank you for your lovely exhibition!

    Reply
    • InstinctiveMum
      July 28, 2013 at 7:25 am (11 years ago)

      You are very welcome, thank you for giving me the opportunity to join in, it’s a great project! x

      Reply
  2. Stephanie
    July 23, 2013 at 2:10 pm (11 years ago)

    What a beautiful post! Thank you so much for including me, what an honour. I love that you broke the rules and did your own take on the activity. Isn’t that creativity in action!

    Reply
    • InstinctiveMum
      July 28, 2013 at 7:25 am (11 years ago)

      Hehe yes! I normally stick to rules so rigidly as well, most unlike me!

      Reply
  3. dragonsflypoppy
    July 23, 2013 at 7:03 pm (11 years ago)

    Good choice for Stephanie’s video – it’s so lovely isn’t it? Lovely activity piece too! Great post honey xx

    Reply
    • InstinctiveMum
      July 28, 2013 at 7:26 am (11 years ago)

      Thank you, yes her video is amazing! x

      Reply

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