the MAMA Project

A concrete-tiled city street is filled with clotheslines, from which hang numerous tattered and stained white bed sheets. Each sheet is painted with a portrait of a mother, speaking or emoting. Between the portraits are hung smaller pieces of fabric, covered in hand-painted text. In the middle of the image, two women are standing, arms folded, looking at the sheets. A small table is beside them, with a book on it, and two lawn chairs.
The MAMA Project in downtown Victoria, BC

MAMA installation: used bed sheets painted with rough images of expressive mothers of all ages are hung on clotheslines around the installation space. The voices of these mothers are broadcast in the room, and their words painted on linens between the portraits, discussing all sorts of mothering experiences and feelings. Viewers are welcome to touch the sheets and to experience at once the diversity and unity that is motherhood.

Past Installations: Bowen Island, Victoria and Colwood, Gibsons, Burnaby B.C. and Port Townsend, WA.

SuperMAMA performance: (Performed twice in full and three times as a solo presentation.) About an hour long — the artist (Emily van Lidth de Jeude) performs a set of songs and poetry about mothering, while a group of mothers dances, paints, mimes, sings and makes music around her. The performance is backed by white bed sheets on a clothesline, where the real and emotional experiences of motherhood are played out as shadows, film, and movement across the cotton.

A video preview image (clickable link). An image of multiple people standing around between dozens of hanging sheets, all painted with portraits of mothers, and blowing in the wind. The woman at the forefront of the image is reaching up to catch a sheet. It's a sunny day on a large lawn, and all of the people are wearing sun hats. The image also has the MakerTube logo and a big orange PLAY button on it.
MAMA Project overview video: https://makertube.net/w/uRfkhdSm54QL7AjSUeRYeF
In a large open grassy yard with two large trees and a large old character home, multiple clotheslines support dozens of white tattered sheets, blowing in the wind. The sky is clear and it's a sunny day. It's difficult to see because the image is small, and taken from a distance, but the sheets are painted with portraits of mothers, and words.
The MAMA Project at the Coast Collective Gallery in Colwood, BC
Stained white sheets hung from clotheslines around a white-walled gallery. Each sheet is painted with a portrait of a mother, expressively speaking or gesturing. In the centre of the gallery is a plinth with a book on it, and a pencil and eraser, and a sign urging guests to add their story to the book.
The MAMA Project at the Bowen Arts Council Gallery, Nexwlelexwem/Bowen Island, BC
A row of stained white bed sheets, painted with portraits of mothers and their words painted in black paint hangs in an urban street. The closest, most visible portrait, is of a mother squatting, resting her head on her hands, looking wistful.
The MAMA Project in downtown Victoria, BC
A woman with orange-brown straight long hair stands in front of painted sheets, singing into a corded microphone that she's holding up with her right hand. She is wearing a black t-shirt, a black choker-necklace with an orange stone on it, and a pair of glasses.
Artist Emily van Lidth de Jeude performing parts of SuperMAMA in Victoria, BC