About the project, the artist and her mother

Mother to Mother

Independent Photography commissioned artist Alinah Azadeh to work with mothers at the Robert Owen Early Years Centre in east Greenwich. The project is part of a series of commissions, Imagine East Greenwich, which involve local people in east Greenwich in creative projects which explore health and well-being.

Mother to Mother investigates the emotional relationships and legacies of motherhood. Over 4 months, Alinah held conversations with local mothers that focused on their relationships to their own mothers and to their children. These were followed by weaving workshops (format thanks to ASF Weave) where participants were invited to express their 'mother to mother' relationships creatively and non-verbally. The process raised a whole series of questions, the most important of which form the basis of this online garden. Both the conversations held and the weaves created, inspired the final artwork, the garden:

You are invited to reflect on and 'plant' your relationship with your mother in this Persian garden. You can revisit it as it grows with the legacies of mothers everywhere.



About the artist and her mother

Mother to Mother is inspired by Alinah’s relationship to her own extraordinary mother, Parvin Azadeh Rieu. who died just after Alinah’s  first child, Delia Shadi, was born in December 2004.  Alinah’s mother died in the Asian Tsunami, three weeks after supporting her through the birth of her first child. Her work ever since has been an attempt to examine and articulate her mother’s emotional legacy and to make this available to others.

Parvin Rieu was Iranian and the idea of cultivating a garden, like we cultivate the emotional soil our children grow in, was inspired by her culture. The walled garden originated in Persia and was used as a retreat, a place of solace, safety and contemplation. The garden most often uses a fourfold layout, called a 'chahar bagh' or a square garden. This is divided into four equal quarters each quarter being a square that can be further subdivided and subdivided again and so on.  Paradise lies, in the midst of the squares – or pixels.

The garden is designed to offer you a moment of reflection on what can be a very complex relationship.

From my mother to me, from your mother to you, from you to your children.


See more of the artists work here Read  the artists weblog.