Description
ARTIST STATEMENT
This body of work began during the pandemic while I was caring for a newborn and a toddler. Driven by an urgent need for self-reflection, I turned the camera on myself to explore maternal ambivalence and the physical and emotional toll of motherhood. At the end of exhausting days, I photographed what remained of me, using my body as both subject and evidence. The resulting images are fragmented and disjointed—bodies appear pieced together, out of proportion, and suspended in an underwater-like state, suggesting both vulnerability and endurance.
I transfer photographs of my body onto large sheets of paper using hand sanitizer. This process allows me to assemble bodily fragments into new compositions, attempting to reconstruct a self that no longer fits together as it once did. The resulting amalgamations reveal the accumulated discomforts, marks, and transformations of motherhood. Embracing chance and uncertainty in the transfer process mirrors my experience of parenting.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Robin Assner-Alvey (b.1978, Massachusetts) is a practicing artist working with photography, video, and installation. Her work examines corporality and asks viewers to consider the experience of living in their own skin. She experiments with various photographic processes to push the boundaries of what a photograph can be as well as to question what it means to be a woman. Throughout Robin’s art practice, she uses her personal experiences as a starting point for her ideas and then investigates those ideas photographically, usually using her own body. Robin’s most recent solo exhibition was The Body Residual, at the Schmidt Art Center in January 2026. Her art has been exhibited in various solo and group shows throughout the United States.
© Robin Assner-Alvey