Shweta Bist

Shweta Bist

Shweta Bist

Rooted in love, my work investigates the intimate relationship between mother and child and the reciprocity of mothering within this relationship. I draw attention to the emotional labor of mothering and the ambivalence often felt by mothers in their role as carers— aspects often overlooked in mainstream representations of motherhood.
In caring for my daughters’ needs for protection and nurturance, I was led to investigate my past conflicts as a girl, woman and young mother. Memories, dreams and suppressed feelings guide my creative inquiry. I use symbolism to represent ideas and attributes, and as references to myth or popular iconography. Such as flowers for femininity and pomegranates for eternal life.
Photographs are staged inside my home and in Central Park, where I have spent much time looking after my daughters, to oppose the consideration of home as a non-productive space and to attribute value to the work of mothering. Ultimately my endeavor is to create images that urge the viewer to contemplate the complexities of the maternal experience in its ambivalent entirety, and contribute to a narrative about the lives of women and their children, told from their perspectives.