What Mothers Carry

What Mothers Carry is an exhibition that honours the unseen, unspoken, but deeply-felt journeys of women through conception, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. It reflects on the duality of what we hold—joy and grief, strength and vulnerability, the weight of history and the promise of new life. The artworks explore the physical act of carrying; children in the womb; babies on the hip; stories passed through generations. They also aim to reveal the emotions and blessings inherited from the women before us. Through these narratives, the exhibition becomes a collective remembering, acknowledging how the endurance, resilience, and sacrifices of our mothers and grandmothers allow us to thrive in motherhood today.

The exhibition also draws from the wisdom of the natural world: animals that fiercely protect and tenderly nurture their young, reminding us that our experiences as mothers are mirrored in Country itself. To carry is to not only hold the present but also the stories of those before us, whose care and continuity sustain us. What Mothers Carry invites reflection on the deep relationships between women and children, the land and water, resilience and renewal.

Emily Rose was the 2025 Noongar Artist Residency artist. This program and exhibition outcome is curated by Zali Morgan.

Photography courtesy of Aaron Claringbold, WaterRunningSlowlyOverRocks.com