Through Dr Helen Benigson latest PhD research, we learned more about how maternality is performed online, offline and in Lockdown but mostly interrupted through our devices and the Internet. Also, Helen Benigson and Paola Lucente unveiled (M)otherhood in the Digital Age. They discussed the impact of the Internet and COVID-19 on parents and carers.
Watch this talk
This event was produced for you by our super Team of Volunteers. Lots of shine to: Dean Botham, Alexandra Busila, Francesca Gransden, Matthew Harvey, Isabella Helm
►► Music jingle by Samm Anga
What did we learn?
- Helen Benigson’s film “Jude” will be screened in real life at Richard Saltoun Gallery, London, in November 2020 as the winning piece of the Mother Art Prize Exhibition 2020.
- The Procreate Project will have a physical “Mother House” in Lewisham, London.
- Lockdown has emphasised and complicated the pressures that parents face, in relation to the Internet.
- Maternality, which is a constantly performative, expansive state of becoming, reveals social bonds to be precarious and volatile.
- That (m)otherhood is an open, inclusive term, including a range of parents, carers and bodies.
More info
- Speakers: Helen Benigson and Paola Lucente
- PhD thesis from Dr Helen Carmel Benigson.
- The blog post from Aliandra Busila, Moderator of the talk.
- (M)otherhood: Online, Offline and in Lockdown from Isabella Helms, Digital Programme Curator for this talk.
- Podcast available soon on Apple, Anchor, Breaker, Castbox, GoogleCast, Overcast, RadioPublic, Spotify, Vrubl
External links of interest
- Documentary about pre-Internet Feminism: Feminists what where they thinking?
- Childbirth from Netflix
- The Museum of Motherhood
- Follow Jude on Instagram for more @judejacrose
- Oxytocin Procreate Project
Artist’s Portfolio
Helen Benigson creates moving-image and performance work concerned with the body and online identities. Her highly saturated video collages are filled with images of stereotypical femininity; lollipops, flowers and glitter. Along with the soundtracks she produces for her videos, the layering of these symbols reinforces the works’ chaotic nature, where fantasy and reality intertwine. The distinction between the self and others is also blurred through her use of online personas and her alter-ego, rapper Princess Belsize Dollar.
