Full Breakdown
Mother: NGV Exhibition Examines Motherhood Through Art
5/10/2026, 11:22:42 AM
Exhibition Overview
The National Gallery of Victoria’s Ian Potter Centre opened “Mother” on 10 May 2026. The show pairs Giovanni Toscani’s 15th-century Madonna and Child with Elizabeth Birritjama Ngalandjarri’s 1998 birth mat, tracing motherhood from conception to loss. Curated mainly from NGV’s existing holdings, it adds new pieces such as Kate Just’s 2012 “An Armour of Hope.”
Curatorial Vision
Co-curators Sophie Gerhard and Katharina Prugger aimed to place works that have never shared a frame, exposing how Christianity reshaped women’s bodies and birthing practices. They also sought to correct the absence of First Nations narratives in prior overseas motherhood shows.
Featured Works
The exhibition includes Toscani’s Madonna, Ngalandjarri’s birth mat, Just’s “An Armour of Hope,” Kyra Mancktelow’s “One Continuous String” (2021), Destiny Deacon’s “Home Video” (1987), Hannah Brontë’s “Eye Hear U Magik,” Davida Allen’s lithograph “Baby” (1989), and John Lorimer’s 17th-century colonial maid painting. Media range from oil and textiles to video and earthenware.
Timeline
Opening: 10 May 2026. Closing: 12 July 2026. The show is largely drawn from NGV’s collection, with only a handful of recent acquisitions.
Visitor Response
Attendees report personal resonance; many say the exhibition “reminds me of my family.” Curators note heightened sharing and excitement among visitors.
Official Statements
Gerhard stresses that the show “is really so relevant to people’s lives.” Prugger emphasizes the inclusion of First Nations stories as a corrective to earlier exhibitions and frames the project as a call to rethink maternal aesthetics.
Criticism & Gaps
Reviewers point out that reliance on existing works leaves modern practices, such as IVF, under-represented. The limited number of new acquisitions restricts the exhibition’s ability to cover the full spectrum of motherhood.
Verbatim Quotes
- “It's such an amazing opportunity to bring things together that have never been shown in the same context before” — Sophie Gerhard, co-curator, NGV
- “We see the Virgin Mary in her white, beautiful purity. But then we ask what impact did that have on women's bodies and birthing practises when Christianity came to Australia? They are lovely works, but also bigger conversations,” — Sophie Gerhard
- “There's been a few exhibitions on motherhood launched overseas and we were thinking about that in an NGV context and what we could add. We saw a real opportunity, especially in the light of these other shows overseas which did not have any kind of First Nation stories included,” — Katharina Prugger, co-curator, NGV
- “This show seems to make people want to share. Every person that we've walked through says 'oh, this reminds me of my family'.” — Sophie Gerhard
Impact
The pairing of historic religious imagery with contemporary Indigenous and feminist pieces reframes motherhood as both personal and political, prompting discussion of cultural narratives and the need for broader representation of modern reproductive experiences.
Next Steps
“Mother” stays on view until 12 July 2026; NGV plans future programming on gender and family themes.
