love’s labor
April 5-27, 2024
Opening Reception: April 5, 6-8PM
Full Event Calendar Below ↓
Valade Family Gallery,
460 West Baltimore, Detroit, MI
Gallery Hours: W-Sa, 12-5pm
love’s labor is a collaborative exhibition that partners with forty mothers in the Metro Detroit Area to create a contemporary portrait of motherhood. The photographs on view are made by using each mother’s own breastmilk as a light-sensitive agent in the historic salted paper process, interjecting a feminist narrative into the history of photography.
Featuring
Shel, Tara Akitt, Nikki Bacigal, Mona Barnawi, Terressa Benz, Jessica Bondalapati, Shontori Bowles, Desiree Cameron, Rachel Cappadona, Kayla Connors, Christie Desnoyer, Kate Evans, Tierra Emerson, Aidel Finman, Mrs. Esther Flowers, Esq., Lauren Gagnon, Stephanie López Gilmore, Mary Hennessey, Melise Hill, Margaret Hull, Héloïse Hogg, Jennifer J., Rory Keay, Jackie Keegan, Elysia Khalil, Caitlin Koska, Alice Lucas, Mariel Martin, Carli Nordquist, Kelsey Nordquist, Eleanor Oakes, Olivia Parker-Crutchfield, Renee Perkins, Ashley Pitts, Mercedes Price, Molly Sanford, Juliana Schewe, I’Sha Schultz-Spradlin, Emily Staugaitis, Jamie Steis Thorsby, Elizabeth Traison, Toria “Shern” Turner, Angela Wang, Amit Weitzer, Michele Oberholtzer Zimmerman
Exhibition Events
April 5, 6-8PM
Opening Reception
Free and open to the public, all welcome!
Body Work by I'Sha Schultz-Spradlin of Black Moon Bathhouse from 6-7PM
Live Performances starting at 7PM:
Belly Dance Performance by Juliana Schewe-Jackson
Lullabies for Grown-Ups with Michele Oberholtzer Zimmerman
Come celebrate the opening of the exhibition and all the amazing mothers who have contributed to this project. All are welcome (including kids!) for as much or as little time as you’d like. No RSVP needed.
April 13, 1-5PM
So You Want to be a Birthworker? Panel Discussion
Hosted by Detroit Midwifery School
Panel Moderator: Eri Guajardo Johnson
Panel Participants: Heather Robinson, Kate York Manipon, Desiree Cameron, Liz Harvin
Are you looking to start or expand your work in reproductive care? You're invited to an inspiring gathering of sharing and support!
In celebration of Black Maternal Health Week, we will meet a panel of diversely situated birthworkers for an expansive conversation exploring the business, strategy & advocacy of Reproductive Care. Panelists will share stories, give tips, and answer your questions in a live Q&A.
All Are Welcome! Whether you're a seasoned birthworker, a compassionate care provider, an expectant parent, or simply someone eager to learn more about reproductive care, this event is open to all.
Registration is limited to 50 seats, use the eventbrite link to register.
April 20, 1-3PM
Embrace Your Story
Hosted by Embrace Motherhood Collective
This event is for anyone who has experienced birth, wants to, or will be birthing soon. Join Us for a Safe and Empowering Storytelling Circle!
In this nurturing space, we invite you to find healing and connection by sharing your personal journey. Healing begins with speaking your truth, and in this circle, all are welcome – whether you've already experienced childbirth, are currently pregnant, aspire to give birth in the future, or are simply curious about the stories of others.
Whether your story is one of joy, resilience, or transformation, this is a space free of judgment where you can express yourself authentically. We believe that through the act of sharing, we not only honor our own experiences but also uplift and inspire others.
After each person has had the chance to speak, we'll open the floor to the audience, inviting anyone who wishes to share their own story or reflections. Together, we'll create a tapestry of narratives that celebrate the diversity of the birthing experience.
To conclude our gathering, we'll participate in a closing meditation led by Stephanie Lopez Gilmore, offering a moment of reflection and grounding as we carry the energy of our shared stories forward.
Registration is limited to 30 seats, use the eventbrite link to register.
April 27, 3-5PM
Gratitude Ceremony
Free and open to the public, all are welcome but space is limited to 30 seats
3:00 PM - Open Your Heart Tea Ceremony with Jessica Bondalapati of Gracie Apothecary
3:30 PM - Guided Meditation with Elysia Khalil
4:00 PM - Gentle Yoga for All Levels with Alice Lucas
Join us to celebrate the end of the exhibition with heart-opening activities in the gallery. Tea will be provided, please bring your own mat.
Registration is limited to 30 seats, use the eventbrite link to register.
More about the exhibition…
love’s labor is an ongoing project that utilizes mother’s breastmilk as a salting solution to make prints that reflect on nourishment, bodily memory as transferred through ancestry, and society’s reliance on the unsupported labor of parenting. Breastmilk adds bodily labor to the print, while also injecting a uniquely feminist narrative into the history of photography. The wide range of color and tonal discrepancies displayed by salt prints are amplified when using this unhomogenized organic material. Each print is unique as tonal shifts and fat splatters swirl like small galaxies. These differences remind us that our bodies are not machines, but imperfect organisms. They encourage acceptance and understanding while countering the harmful perfectionist rhetoric engrained in the photographic medium.
This work has collaborated with forty other mothers to date. Each mother is taught to coat their own paper, introducing their hand to the prints and creating a traveling lesson on the process. In some cases, formula is also used if it is more representative of a parent’s particular breast or chest-feeding journey. Images of family and community gardens are additionally included to honor the mothers’ own practices of care, as well as to reference continued nourishment through the land and the tension between the presumptive ‘natural’ experience of parenting in simultaneous conjunction and conflict with the environment.
This exhibition is made possible thanks to the generous support of Culture Source, the Andy Warhol Foundation, College for Creative Studies, and Arts and Scraps.
