Woman, the essence of life, the heart of nature... is expectant of a new season. A blossom flourishes, announcing the womb of the earth is enceinte. From this fertility the earth's belly swells and at the time of the bearing, like a spring cutting through mountain rocks, the earth's womb tears. Lastly comes the painful bearing, and the prize is motherhood.

The mothers of this land are expectant of a new day and a new tomorrow, they hold and carry obstruction and hindrance within them only to birth a new era in the end, albeit painfully, but the grand reward is motherhood; mothering a new age where the mothers are equal to the others.

This series is a record of this endless cycle of pain, tolerance, flourishing, and mothering. Since the formation of the Women's Organization of Iran in 1958 until today, mothering has been a precarious duty. The pregnant mother's body swells and alters in anticipation of tomorrow's blooms, waiting to bear life; though with great agony, the fruit is hope..

The mother's body transforms through this, taking on a new shape by each day, a fresh form by each dawn; and each form is a sign of a brighter day to come. The earth is the mother, the mother is an artist. This series shows the artist's journey as a life- giving force; as the earth.

Kamran Ghabraie:

April 20231