Badge of Motherhood

Ella Raphael interviews Yuko Edwards.

Our skin can be seen as a record of our lives, mapping past scars, trauma and growth. It can tell us about the generations before us, and about the wounds we are healing from. Photographer and artist Yuko Edwards’ powerful piece 'Untitled (Badge)’ studies the relationship we have with our skin. The piece depicts a woman wearing a badge titled 'mother' on her breast, showing marks from where the pin has been repeatedly pierced into the skin. We had the opportunity to speak to Yuko Edwards to find out more about her remarkable piece.

ER: Cartography of Care explores the various ways in which we map motherhood and practices of care. Could you tell us a bit more about how your work explores this idea?

YE: I’m interested in the relationship we have with our bodies and how we learn and change over time with the experiences we have in them. There are emotions many mothers share that we can’t adequately put into words. My work attempts to visualise those emotions and speak to our successes despite social, political and economic realities that undermine our collective power.

ER: Absolutely, I found this photograph served as a form of resistance to the structures that seek to dictate our relationship with our own bodies, would you say this idea played a role in the creation of the piece? You have also explored how breastfeeding, one of the most intimate interactions between a mother and child, is often censored. Do you feel like your experiences of motherhood have been regulated?

*Cartography of Care, Installation view. Photo by Anneleen Lindsay, 2022.*

YE: The photograph, for me, extends beyond breastfeeding to a more generalised experience of mothering. We can too often feel unnoticed and unacknowledged, and of course unpaid, for the work we do and the struggles that come with the job of mother. To make this ‘invisible labour’ visible is an act of resistance. The photograph is an effort to memorialise the time, the work, perhaps the fatigue and the love we put in. It speaks to various aspects of the job: attempts, failures and achievements.

ER: On a similar note, do you think the pandemic changed the way we see our bodies, and live within them? And, did the pandemic change how you experience motherhood?

YE: The “invisible labour” became much more pronounced over the pandemic which made me acutely aware of the value of our bodies. While balancing the other parts of our lives, mothering is a full-time job that we don’t get compensation or even recognition for. My children were back at home 24/7 like when they were young. I felt very protective of them. It was hard to witness from home the violence of that period, beginning with the murder of George Floyd. The global protests and rallies that followed, the mounting numbers of covid deaths, all made me rethink how we care for our children and put ourselves back together again. For me, the pandemic brought motherhood into sharp focus.

ER: Finally, we were hoping to learn more about about the process behind this piece, would you be able to tell us a bit more about the creation of the photograph?

YE: I like using found objects in my work and arranging them to get at a feeling. I found the badge at an antiques market when my kids were small and the wishbone spoke to me immediately. I’ve been making collages since I was a teenager and still enjoy that process of juxtaposing images and found material to retell stories and share a point of view. This photographic image was made in that spirit.