Bearing
Bearing follows the frustrations, heartache and joy of everyday motherhood through observational vignettes of the filmmaker’s life as a new mum over the first five years of her daughter’s life.
From the Director: The research set out to understand the experience of early motherhood in relation to place using sensory film and photography. As a work of autoethnography I set out to document sensory experiences of early motherhood in relation to the places in which they were experienced. The focus of this documentation was an exploration of mental wellbeing, breastfeeding, mobility and identity; and the interrelation of these themes with place. In the film component of the research I wanted to focus on and unpack the public/private binary and draw attention to the activities involved in crossing the threshold to go from home, to public space or outdoors with a child. I also intended to document the comparative freedom of movement I have as an agent without my child with me, and highlight the ways in which the city and public facilities are inhospitable to small children and those caring for them. The research sought to use sensory storytelling to observe everyday mothering activity highlighting the tensions of living life in one’s maternal identity in relation to other non-maternal identities and activities. The film intended to visualise how these identities are closely associated with place. Building on the research of feminist geographers such as Kate Boyer which use more conventional qualitative methods, my film intended to enrich this existing critical discourse on motherhood and place by using film and visual methods and an autoethnographic approach.