Mother Water
The contemporary philosopher Z. Bauman has dedicated part of his research to the analysis of modern society. He believes that today men do not produce anymore but consume a lot, and explains modernity stating that man is no more a solid piece of a whole, but something that is subject to the “liquefaction” of society, of those values and that order on which it was based in the past. According to Bauman, today everything is merchandise. If I stop for a moment thinking about this point of view, I cannot do without admitting that he is right. At the same time, thinking about myself, I can assert that I am the exception to the rule! I am 33 years old and, as 99% of my peers, since the very first hours of my life I have been fed with artificial food. This happened because of the economic raise of the 80’s, when even childbirth was linked to spending, and when a baby’s nourishment was often based on the information prescribed on” drug facts” inside artificial milk packaging. This behavior of new parents of that time was encouraged by pediatricians, who were in turn encouraged and awarded by pharmaceutical representatives. I really do not know and understand. What I notice today is a change on this trend. Being a father spending time with other young parents, I am noticing in my peers this change, this kind of “re-solidification” of contemporary families, to use Bauman’s words. Modern couples are always more interested in reading up and learning about how to welcome and raise the new generation, in a more natural and non-consumer way. Many new-parents decide to give their children birth inside their house or in places where mothers can chose to do it inside water. Many mothers decide for breastfeeding, and prefer this kind of nourishment for their children even after the weaning period. Statistic data referring to the period between 2005 and 2014 are very clear: increasing in breastfeeding women from 81,1% to 85,5%; increasing of the period of exclusive breastfeeding from 6,2 to 8,3 months of the baby. This is what I want to demonstrate, or at least try, with my project “Mother Water”. A work in which there are different mothers are portrayed with their children of different ages, inside water. Water itself is the central idea…from pregnancy to childbirth, and then to breastfeeding. Do you need the proof that I am the exception to the rule? The couple mother-child, in the portrait down on the right, is MY WIFE WITH OUR SON!