Motherhood is an artist book Elisabeth Castaldo made reflecting on her experience being a mother, the expectations and pressures she felt, and the struggle to maintain her own individuality as a person separate from her role as a mother. Castaldo made this artists book as a first attempt to grapple with what it has felt like to be a mother, addressing the joy and frustration, isolation and connection. The inside folds feature a collagraph made by Castaldo’s child when she was 7 years old. The book was printed letterpress with handset type over cyanotype. The cyanotypes were made over the summer with a home made transparency made using hair from a wig and artificial flowers. Castaldo’s daughter Phoebe, made the collagraph that you will see on the interior, semi- hidden, parts of the book. The book is folded from a single sheet of paper to create a booklet with 8 pages.
From the author with edits
