Birgit Dieker 2005 sculpture ‘Bad Mummy’ was showcased as part of DaDaFest at Bluecoat in Liverpool the theme of the exhibition is questioning what it means to be perceived as normal and the codes of looking we establish in creation of a system of ideals that we as a society measure ourselves against.
‘Bad Mummy’ is a solid black leather form of a pregnant woman with obtrusive spiked pins and needles. The use of dark leather is symbolic as it is normally classified as fetishistic material so it is questioning the opposing ideals of sexual fantasies and motherhood. Leather also has associations with bondage and sexual dominance/submission so by being a pregnant limbless woman it raises the question that once a woman has given birth is she now just supposed to be submissive to her child at the cost of her own freedom and self identity. ‘Bad Mummy’ also works I feel in its setting it is perched high on metal stool and in the corridor against the white wall it connotes a feeling of aloneness as well as strength of its impact on the passing visitor.
