Mucem Marseille Exhibition 'Bonnes Mères' Explores Mediterranean Motherhood Through Art

The exhibition 'Bonnes Mères' opened at Mucem Marseille on 18 March, presenting a multidisciplinary exploration of motherhood across Mediterranean cultures. Curated by Caroline Chenu and Anne-Cécile Mailfert, the show features approximately four hundred works spanning film, photography, painting, and sculpture, alongside ethnographic artifacts from the museum's archives. The exhibition critically examines how maternal experience has shifted from private domesticity to public performance in the digital age, while revealing diverse realities often excluded from traditional representations. Key loans from institutions including the Musée d’Orsay, the Benaki Museum in Athens, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs support the presentation. Artists such as Letizia Battaglia, Zineb Sedira, Fatima Mazmouz, Kader Attia, Laia Abril, Michael Serfaty, Sophia Tsag, and Vasantha Yogananthan contribute works that address themes like resilience, displacement, reproductive rights, and intergenerational trauma. The curators emphasize a visual dialogue rather than a chronological approach, highlighting how fundamental aspects of motherhood—such as childbirth, breastfeeding, and pain—have persisted across millennia. The exhibition runs until 31 August, offering a complex perspective on maternal labor, identity, and cultural expectations in the Mediterranean region.