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Photo exhibit challenges 'politicization' of motherhood

By Lyndel Owens '10
November 13, 2007

The dynamic photo exhibition "Beggars and Choosers: Motherhood is Not a Class Privilege in America" premiered Friday, Nov. 10, in the Flaten Art Museum and will run through Dec. 12. By portraying mothers on society's "edge," the show challenges the politicization of the role of mother and associated societal assumptions.

Rickie Solinger, the show's curator and a prize-winning historian, will speak Thursday, Nov. 15, in Dittmann Center at 7 p.m. Her lecture, "Nine Ways of Looking at a Poor Woman," is free and open to the public.

Beg&Choose1
"I'm not a disabled mother. I'm just a mother," says Mary. "Mary and Mika" by Anne Hamersky, 1997.
Since its inception in 2002 "Beggars and Choosers" has been featured in more than 25 venues across the nation. Of the seven shows Flaten Art Museum will hold this year, Museum Director Jill Ewald believes this display is one of its more political displays.

"The show takes a stand against poverty and the political and economic powerlessness that accompanies those who live on the fringes," she says. "It explores the same depths of emotions that mothers everywhere feel."

'I'm a mother myself'
The display features 66 color and black and white images with some commentary from women who are often derided as "too young, too poor, too gay, too disabled, too non-white or too foreign" to be valid mothers. Susan Meiselas' photo, "Mitzi," captures a nude carnival stripper whose statement conveys frustration toward those who doubt her mothering ability. "[This woman] ... was saying we shouldn't be located next to a kiddie merry go-round. She said, 'I'm a mother.' And I grabbed the mike and I said, 'I'm a mother myself.'"

The Flaten Art Museum is located on the second floor of Dittmann Center and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with hours extended to 8 p.m. on Thursdays. On Saturdays and Sundays it is open from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibit is closed for Thanksgiving, Nov. 21-25.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.