Talks & Events

Join us as Hettie Judah introduces the topic of ‘motherhood’ addressing the construction of motherhood as an ideal in visual culture, and the strategies through which women artists have subverted it. While the Madonna and Child is one of the great subjects of European art, we rarely see art about motherhood as a lived experience, in all its complexity. In her new book and exhibition, Hettie Judah’s Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood addresses this blind spot in art history, asserting the artist mother as an important – if rarely visible – cultural figure. As well as delving into the mother as an art historical subject Acts of Creation explores lived experience of motherhood, offering a complex account that engages with contemporary concerns about gender, caregiving and reproductive rights.

Join us us as Professor Claire Wilcox speaks about the many exhibitions she has curated during her career at the V&A Museum, including Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty (2015), Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up (2018) and Fashioning Masculinities: the Art of Menswear (2022).