MothersHeart

Claudia Pawlak - Serce Matki (Mother's Heart). “Serce Matki” (Mother’s Heart), or alternatively titled, “Most Importantly, Love Your Mother”, is a photographic body of work created during 2019 which explores the evolution of the mother-daughter relationship from co-dependency to two self-sustaining women.Serce Matki is derived from the poem “Kochaj róże, kochaj bratki, a najbardziej serce matki” (I love roses, I love pansies, but the most important is my mother's heart). This is a mantra of sorts - used by Polish children throughout generations as a confession of love.In 2019, I began searching through my mother's documents from her home country of Poland. The result is a series of photographs piecing together the material evidence of her life and experiences, portraits featuring moments between myself, my mother, and my sister, as an attempt to understand her identity today. In completing this work, I am creating my own poem for my mother, a visual essay about validating the sacrifice of our mother’s heart.