Santa Madre/Holy Mother is a collaborative project by Ri Anderson and Ashley Yoshida. It is about two American women coming to terms with motherhood in Mexico.
As expatriates birthing and raising children abroad, we find ourselves strangers in two strange lands, that of our adopted country's culture and that of motherhood. We explore our new worlds by inserting ourselves into Mexican-Catholic tableaux that present themselves well beyond the walls of the churches where we live in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.
Taking the idea that mothers are anonymous saints, we role-play with our children using elements from the religion and culture in which we are submerged. Part fantasy, part farce, part outlet, part passage, these photographs express the physical and emotional agony and ecstasy we experience as we find our way in these two new worlds.
Ri’s birth collages -- These works are reinterpreted Catholic symbols of devotion in the form of martyrdom. The cross, bleeding heart, and crown of thorns are collaged cutouts of the birth of my younger daughter. In these works I compare the agony and ecstasy a mother experiences during the birthing process to the Christian saint’s martyrdom. Each collage involves hour upon hour of Photoshop work, computer stitching and assemblage. This can be interpreted as a modern version of Mexican devotional embroidery.