Happy Mother, 2013, centres on a blue-eyed, blond-haired woman in labour. Despite the pain of childbirth, this mother appears to be delighted. Closer examination reveals she is not fully human, as she has animal and fantastical appendages; hence, she may be part of an underworld or otherworld. She is embraced from behind by a midwife who appears as a prehistoric bird, her orange and light blue wings wrapped delicately around the woman in an act of comfort. The infant that is being pulled from the womb by the birthing mother is crowned with six small globes dancing atop its head.
Shuvinai Ashoona: Mapping Worlds
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Shuvinai Ashoona, Happy Mother, 2013
Coloured pencil, graphite, and ink on paper, 123 x 127.5 cm, Collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, purchase, Monique Parent Fund (2014.91). Photo credit: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Jean-François Brière.