ROCK YOUR BABY on Sunday, May 3rd, 2026 at the ArtsXchange Campus in the Warehouse Arts District (WADA) for a free, family-friendly festival celebrating mothers, caregivers, families, creativity, and community connection 11-4PM.
Hosted by the Museum of Motherhood (MoM), Mamapalooza is both a joyful community celebration and a fundraiser supporting MoM’s year-round cultural programming, exhibitions, and outreach. In its third year, the event has grown to welcome 400–500 attendees annually, bringing together families, artists, health providers, and community organizations from across Pinellas County.
LIVE MUSIC LINEUP Petal and Bass The Rum Syndicate Phono Matrix Mahray Rainbow Portal SPECIAL HEALTH & WELLNESS FEATURES Free health screenings will be provided by the BayCare Mobile Health Unit, located across from the main stage, offering accessible preventive care for families during the event. FAMILY & COMMUNITY RESOURCES Mamapalooza will feature trusted partners providing support for new and expecting families, including free newborn and postpartum supplies and connections to local services such as: St. Anthony’s Hospital, BayCare Healthy Start Coalition of Pinellas County Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County Postpartum Support International – Florida Chapter Lactation Loop Pink Fitness Florida Southern Alchemy Wellness / Southern Birthing Wellness Unlimited Pediatric Therapy COMMUNITY SPONSORS We are proud to be supported by: Pinellas Community Foundation Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County Rays Rowdies Foundation Unlimited Pediatric Therapy
SUPPORT THE MUSEUM OF MOTHERHOOD – PUT MoM on the MAP IN PINELLAS – WITH A HOME OF OUR OWN! Mamapalooza is a fundraiser supporting MoM. Guests can give back by purchasing raffle tickets, buying merchandise, or becoming a museum member. Event entry is FREE.
Enjoy live music, hands-on activities, community resources, wellness services, and a welcoming space for all ages in one of St. Pete’s most vibrant arts districts.
Come celebrate families, support local culture, and experience a day full of music, meaning, and community connection. EVERY DAY IS MOTHERS’ DAY!(FREE to ALL)
Mamapalooza_Info_2026
MaMaPaLooZa Stage Lineup
SUBMIT TO THE JOURNAL OF MOTHER STUDIES
MoM’s MISSION
The Museum of motherhood is the first and only institution devoted to elucidating the art, science and history of women, mothers and families inclusive of all reproductive identities.
Our mission is to start great conversations, create compelling exhibits and share information and education that informs and inspires lives while acting as social change agents, community connectors and culture builders.
Together we increase well-being and-celebrate the most creative act in the world.
PLEASE JOIN US FOR AN OPENING RECEPTION AND A MEET & GREET
Join us for the Grand Opening Reception: Friday, April 10 | 7–9:30 PM I Hear from young moms and community stakeholders! Join us for libations and conversation.
Where: Gallery at the Museum of Motherhood 2606 Fairfield Ave S in The Factory Building 7 St Pete
Please join us at MoM with Healthy Start. This lovely mix and mingle will feature stories (and results from the researchers and the mothers themselves), with refreshments, presentations and conversation. This will be followed by Second Saturday Art Walk April 11 5-9PM on April 11th.
Objective Young moms in Hillsborough County were asked to draw journey maps and accompany them with photos (photovoice) to share their story and participate in a novel method that prioritized uninterrupted narratives/storytelling.
How: The exhibit includes the hand-drawn journey maps from ten moms and their accompanied photos, as well as an interactive audio portion where participants can scan QR codes and listen to some portions of their story.
Activities include: A table with “letters and advice for young moms” allowing visitors to write letters to young moms, which can then be distributed by Healthy Start/Healthy Families home visitors.
Curated byMahir Rahman, NASM-CPT, AFAA-CGFI, graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of South Florida, and a research intern with Healthy Start Hillsborough, has been leading a journey mapping and photovoice project with young mothers in the Tampa Bay community and across our programs. University of South Florida Website
Come and enjoy an immersive, audio-visual exhibit amplifying the real stories of pregnant and parenting adolescents in our community. Through powerful visuals and firsthand voices, this experience brings their journeys, challenges, and resilience into focus.
Questions call: 877-711-MOMS (6667) Lv message. We will call you back!
Museum of Motherhood, St. Petersburg (2606 Fairfield Ave South, St. Petersburg, FL 33712)
Visit the exhibit now through the end of April.
SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OUR MOM CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS, ORGANIZERS and SPONSORS
MoM Conference 2025- the ‘Joy Award’
Thank you all so very much for joining us for The Museum of Motherhood’s Annual International Academic & Arts Conference | Reproductive Identities & Resistance: Mothers and Others in Culture, Community & Collaboration. We couldn’t have done this without you!
A special thanks to our event sponsors, USF & St. Anthony’s Hospital BayCare Health System, and to our marketplace vendors: The Entourage Lab, PSI, and MoM bookstore. Thank you too, Dr. Aurelie Athan for your ongoing work. Congratulations on being awarded ‘The Joy Award’ 2026.
We look forward to sharing more of your work, distilling images and video – soon come. Until then, remember… MoM loves YOU!
LETTER FROM OUR FOUNDER
This week I wrote about love. While museums are not generally in the business of ‘love’, the Museum of Motherhood is. While we are not always perfect, our aspirations are consistent. Our values are written into the fabric of the museum. We are women supporting women.
When I started the Museum of Motherhood in 2003 in Dobbs Ferry, New York I was a lupus survivor, recent kidney transplant recipient, mother of four children (under 12yrs), and newly divorced. My compassion for other people in my situation, was enormous.
Even more than that – I wanted to create CHANGE: social change, cultural change, and economic change. It was visceral for me because I was caught in the whirlpool of each of those problematic issues.
From women’s healthcare to the inherent creativity of M/otherhood– I initially vacillated between the work of Jane Adams (and Hull House), and resources for artists.
Many years later and many beautiful people down the road, MoM has morphed & changed, of course. Every Student, Intern, Volunteer, Friend, academic and community member who has invested time in MoM has helped to shape her.
No doubt she will continue to grow and change. Such is LIFE! However, we’re currently at a crossroads. While I continue to navigate major health issues, the team is continuing the awesome and important work of MoM. But we need help. We need people to take my place. All kinds of initiatives from a bonafide Executive Director in training tosocial media helpers to onsite docents. Some jobs pay. Some are volunteer. Either way, we hope you’ll consider getting involved!
I am confident that with LOVE as her core value, MoM will continue to succeed as a place of kindness, tolerance, and education in this world. ~ Martha Joy Rose
Museum of Motherhood Activates Community Through Arts, Advocacy, and Education This Spring – March is Women’s Herstory Month!
WOMEN’S HISTORY IS EVERYONE’S HISTORY
WOMEN SHAPE St PETE: Did you know, Sarah Williams is considered the ‘Mother of the City of St Pete’ after she persuaded Peter Demens to bring the Orange Belt Railroad to downtown St. Petersburg, instead of Gulfport. In 1887. Peter Demens, Russian railroad man, and John Williams worked together to bring the Orange Belt Railroad to what would become St. Petersburg, Florida. (named after Peter Demens’s hometown in Russia.) . Considered “Mother of the City,” Williams had two sons and even more husbands. (Founded 1888, incorporated 1892 (population approximately 300 people).
Women’s History Month is an essential acknowledgement that corrects an imbalance in how our national story has traditionally been told. For generations, the achievements of women—in science, politics, education, caregiving, civil rights, the arts, and industry—have been overlooked or minimized. Dedicating a month to women’s history ensures their contributions are recognized as central, not peripheral, to the American story.
Women’s History St Petersburg, Florida
We cannot change the future (for the better) without understanding our past. Women’s History Month encourages a more accurate and inclusive understanding of democracy itself—one that acknowledges both progress made and work still to be done in building a fair and equitable society.
To that end, The Museum of Motherhood (MoM) maintains a robust calendar of exhibitions, public programs, conferences, and partnerships that continues to deepen our role as a vibrant, community-centered, educational and cultural institution. Together we explore m/otherhood as a social, cultural & artistic force. Learn more at MOMmuseum.org.
FILM FESTIVAL ROCKS EQUITY IN SARASOTA AND STREAMING
Reel Equals – Through Her Eyes Film Festival
FILM FESTIVAL SARASOTA:March 5 – 10 with a Spotlight on Diverse Voices: Reel Equals International Film Festival Shines in Sarasota in a community collaboration with the Museum of Motherhood and the internationally recognized educational & arts conference with two decades of impact. In person and streaming: ThroughWomensEyes.org.
TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL ACADEMIC & ARTS CONFERENCE MoM & USF
March 27-29The Annual International Academic and Arts MoM Conference 2026 in partnership at USF, St Pete features panels and presentations focused on reproductive identities, maternal experiences, and the intersections of motherhood with art, policy, healthcare, education, and social justice. Offered both in person and online, the conference is designed to be academically rigorous while remaining accessible to students, professionals, and community members alike. Open to the community with advance registration: JourMS.org
NEW ART EXHIBIT COMING. SAVE THE DATE
Mapping Resilience with young mothers exhibit at the Museum of Motherhood
NEW EXHIBIT: Mapping Resilience- Stories of Young Motherhood
When: April 6 – 26, 2026
Where: Gallery at the Museum of Motherhood 2606 Fairfield Ave S in The Factory Building 7 St Pete
Official Opening Reception April 10th 7-9:30PM (Stakeholder Day): Please join us at MoM with Healthy Start. This lovely mix and mingle will feature stories (and results from the researchers and the mothers themselves), with refreshments, presentations and conversation. This will be followed by Second Saturday Art Walk April 11 5-9PM on April 11th.
Objective Young moms in Hillsborough County were asked to draw journey maps and accompany them with photos (photovoice) to share their story and participate in a novel method that prioritized uninterrupted narratives/storytelling.
How: The exhibit includes the hand-drawn journey maps from ten moms and their accompanied photos, as well as an interactive audio portion where participants can scan QR codes and listen to some portions of their story.
Activities include: A table with “letters and advice for young moms” allowing visitors to write letters to young moms, which can then be distributed by Healthy Start/Healthy Families home visitors.
Curated byMahir Rahman, NASM-CPT, AFAA-CGFI Graduate Student, Applied Anthropology University of South Florida Website
SUBMISSIONS FOR A ZINE AS PART OF MOM CONFERENCE
Bad Mother Myth Busting Project
SHOUT OUT~!
Our friends at Sunday Assembly be eatin’ nearby on March 14th in Gulfport during the day. Second Saturday Art Walk in the evening at MoM and beyond.
When I was a little girl, adults sometimes dismissed my voice. When I was a young woman I was told to ‘be nice’ and ‘smile’. Oftentimes other people in positions of power tried to convince me what I was experiencing was not real– even though I knew it was.
Now, more than ever before, I remind my friends, children and family that speaking up and out, and that speaking truth (from my experience) is as important as listening to other people’s perspective. Whatever the case, it is never acceptable to promote people, parents, politicians, or posses whose aim is to suppress. oppress or make invisible another human or segment of the population either through force, finances or purposeful distortion of factual evidence.
M. Joy Rose 03/12/26
Black History Month at MoM
Refusing to Disappear/ Refusing to be Disappeared
Its Black History Month! Even though the ‘Black History Matters’ mural was removed by state crews on August 29, 2025 and the on year ago that the Smithsonian Institute was mandated to review and change exhibits deemed to be promoting “divisive, race-centered ideology” by the current political administration.
Facts are not ideology. Black history is real. The only people who can tell the story of the families, experiences, histories and realities of Black Americans are the ones whose lives were impacted. We are fortunate in St Petersburg, FL that Carter G.Woodson African American Museum is on mark for big plans for future development and we are encouraged and lifted by their successes. Carter Woodson championed Black History month because of his singular devotion to “Negro Life and Culture,” and the formation of an organization whose goal was to make Black history accessible to an audience beyond college campuses and academic texts. His passion resulted in the formation of Negro History Week in 1926, which eventually came be what we now know as ‘Black History Month‘.
ORDER TICKETS NOW: Through Women’s Eyes – Film Festival
This spring, MoM will be visible in partnership with REEL EQUALS International Film Festival Spotlight on Diverse Voices: Reel Equals International Film Festival Shines in Sarasota: ThroughWomensEyes.org
REEL EQUALS 27th Annual Festival In-theater screenings, Sarasota, Florida March 6-8 Virtual screenings March 5-10 Featuring 25 films from 11 countries!
An entertaining opening night film that uses comedy to address a universal topic, human anxiety, opening a door to a mental health issue everyone knows about.
The need for diverse stories; female filmmakers from 12 countries reveal topics ranging from stand-up comedy to elephants in India, motherhood to the war in Ukraine. We examine how media portrayals shape beliefs and opportunities; films reflect and reveal how influential media is on creating the ways we talk, think, and act and underscore the need for diverse voices in visual media. Changemakers; narratives that challenge stereotypes and elevate inspiring lives are central to the festival.
Feb/March Press Release
MoM will be at Localtopia this Saturday, Feb 14, 2026. Our location at The Factory will be closed during the day and reopening 5-9PM For Second Saturday Art Walk – Karaoke is for lovers. Come sing with us!
HOLD THE DATE– MoM Conference 2026 is coming March 27-29th
2026 MoM Conference
EVERYONE MUST PRE-REGISTER –SPONSOR A STUDENT/ARTIST
Donations optional but you must let us know you’re attending!
Your PAID registration free includes breakfast & lunch Friday and Saturday, light snacks in the afternoon, and access to all panels, workshop, and the keynote address. Those registering with no payment are welcome to attend and BYO..
QUESTIONS? CALL US and LV a MESSAGE – We’ll CYB: 877-711-MOMS (6667)
A new year is unfolding at the Museum of Motherhood—and it’s already full of momentum. 🌱 From board leadership and strategy sessions to festivals, conferences, and community celebrations, 2026 is shaping up to be a year of action, reflection, and collective joy. Our latest blog lays out what’s ahead, why it matters, and how you can be part of it—from January goal-setting to a fall focus on maternal mental health. Take a look, mark your calendar, and step into the year with us.
2026 Scheduled Dates:
January 14th Board Meeting and Kick-off for 2026 New Year Goals & Implementation
January 20th Implementation of 6 month strategy
February 14th Localtopia
March – Women’s History Month
April – Q2 Board Meeting
March 26 Leadership workshop with dinner for all team
March 27-29 MoM Conference
May 3 is MaMaPaLooZa
June 2nd Board Building Party – Barbara & Mary B-Day
July – Pride & Q3 Board Meeting – vote in new members
August – Hang on in The Factory to continue the good work
September – Mini-Conference Maternal Mental Health
MoM Membership Cooperative
We are delighted to invite you to become part of something special at the Museum of Motherhood—our Cooperative Membership Store & Shared Creative Space.
This is more than a retail visibility opportunity. It’s a living, breathing community where artists, educators, healers, organizers, and makers gather to share their talents, connect with the public, and support one another in a values-driven, cooperative environment.
Welcome to MoM’s Cooperative Space
Bring your art, expertise, objects, ideas, and meetings into a shared home where creativity and care are centered. By joining, you’ll collaborate in a vibrant real-world space while engaging with MoM’s audiences during events like Second Saturday Art Walk, Sunday Assembly, and MaMaPaLooZa Festival—as your schedule allows as well as during weekly hours.
What Participation Looks Like
Join MoM with a $30 annual membership
Sign up for 3-hour (short) or 6-hour (long) shifts—or more—during a 40-hour week (See Events & Calendar at MOMmuseum.org)
Greet visitors warmly and direct them to MoM’s signup portal
Share and sell your work, services, or expertise You keep 100% of your sales
If selling work by others, simply direct buyers to the item’s QR payment code and log the sale in the receipt book
What MoM Provides
Onesix-foot table, chairs, easels, and working space
Storage under tables (bring a labeled tote if you’d like to leave items onsite)
The option to leave onsite:
An 8 × 10 display with QR code
A notebook or portfolio of your work
Up to ¼ of a six-foot table of objects and one easel when you’re not present (Tables are shared among four cooperators)
Promotion of you and your work through MoM social media using graphics and info you provide
Why This Matters
By managing the space while you’re in it, you help keep MoM accessible, welcoming, and alive—while gaining visibility, community, and a meaningful place to share what you do best. If you believe in collaboration over competition, community over isolation, and creativity rooted in care—we would love to welcome you.
Welcome to MoM’s Cooperative Space. Please bring your art, talents, objects, and meetings. By agreeing to join this initiative you can expect:
Collaborate on a shared real estate for exhibiting and meeting clients and be part of our general audience on Second Saturday Art Walk, Sunday Assembly, MaMaPaLooZa Festival as per your availability with your great talents in exchange for a basic level MoM membership and an agreement to manage the space while you are in it.
MoM Team with volunteers at the Museum of Motherhood
MoM Needs Volunteers and Docents
The Museum of Motherhood is more than a museum, it’s a gathering space, a conversation starter, and a love letter to motherhood in all its forms. We’re looking for a friendly, curious, people-loving human to help welcome our community into the space.
Volunteerism is the heartbeat of the Museum of Motherhood. 💛 Our work is powered by people who give their time, skills, care, and creativity to help preserve stories, spark dialogue, and build a more humane future for families. From greeting visitors and supporting events to research, archiving, and advocacy, volunteers make it possible for MoM to keep its doors open, its programs vibrant, and its mission alive. Simply put: we keep going because our community shows up.
What you’ll do:
Greet visitors with warmth and make them feel at home the moment they arrive
Move through the museum, offering gentle, engaging introductions to exhibits and artworks
Spark curiosity, conversation, and connection throughout the space
Support our Mom Shop by sharing the stories behind our merchandise and assisting with sales
Invite visitors to deepen their relationship with the museum through memberships and events
Educate clients about available programs and assist with application processes when necessary
Maintain accurate records of client interactions and service provision in accordance with privacy policies
You might be perfect for this role if you:
Love art, culture, storytelling, and community spaces
Enjoy talking with people and making them feel seen and welcomed
Are comfortable engaging visitors in a relaxed, authentic way
Believe in honoring motherhood, caregiving, and lived experience as powerful cultural forces
Bring positive energy and openness into shared spaces
Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail for record keeping and coordination tasks
This is a role for someone who loves people, ideas, and meaningful work and wants to be part of a mission-driven, creative environment.
If you are interested in being part of our team but are not in a financial situation where you can volunteer, then we have some funds available for onsite docents in-space to greet people during our regular shifts.
Volunteer (we’re grateful if you can) or $17/hour Flexible, community-centered work A chance to be part of something special
Job Type: Part-time.
Interested? We’d love to hear from you.CONTACT: Scheduling@MOMmuseum.org
You might not always feel like it, but the future is looking bright. “How so?” you might wonder? Well, the truth is that light is everywhere—even in the darkness. Now that the season of light is upon us, we are pleased to welcome new initiatives, new interns, new solvency strategies, and the same ole sense of love and compassion that MoM musters in every circumstance.
At the Museum of Motherhood, we do not measure brightness by ease or comfort. We measure it by resilience, by care, and by the quiet, radical persistence of families who keep showing up for one another—even when systems fall short. And there are real reasons to believe the future of health, wellness, and education for families in America is bending toward something more humane.
Across the country, we are seeing renewed attention to maternal mental health, long overlooked and underfunded, now finally entering public conversation, clinical practice, and community-based solutions. Peer support models, trauma-informed care, and culturally responsive services are gaining traction—not because they are trendy, but because families have demanded better. Knowledge is catching up to lived experience.
In education, learning is expanding beyond classrooms and credentials. Intergenerational education, museum-based learning, and community storytelling are increasingly recognized as legitimate, powerful ways people grow and heal. Families are reclaiming learning as something that happens through curiosity, creativity, and connection—not just compliance. Museums like MoM are uniquely positioned to hold this work: part classroom, part commons, part sanctuary.
MoM Shop Open in December for Thank You Gifts for all museum memberships
Health and wellness, too, are being redefined. More families are questioning productivity-at-all-costs culture and returning to basics: rest, touch, creativity, food, movement, and meaning. Caregiving—once invisible—is becoming a subject of research, advocacy, and art. While this shift is far from complete, the cracks in the old model are letting light in.
At MoM, we see hope in the next generation. Our interns arrive not just with skills, but with clarity: they understand that care is infrastructure, that history shapes health, and that equity is not optional. They are asking better questions—and insisting on better answers.
We also see hope in sustainability: in new funding models, shared resources, and collaborative strategies that allow cultural institutions to survive without abandoning their values. Solvency, when grounded in ethics, becomes a form of care itself—ensuring that spaces for truth, tenderness, and transformation remain open.
The future will not be bright because it is easy. It will be bright because people continue to choose love, compassion, and responsibility for one another—especially in hard times. That is the work of m/otherhood. That is the work of this museum. And that is the light we are committed to tending, together.
YEAR END FUNDRAISING INITIATIVE
As our team celebrates the season of gratitude – I am thankful for a great year, awesome accomplishments, & for you!
MoM reaches people where they live, work and play through our family-friendly exhibits and education. We are Tampa Bay’s first and only women’s museum, devoted to the art, science and herstory of American women, mothers and families.
If you haven’t visited us yet, please do. We are virtual and in real time offering tours, exhibits, conversations, education, friendship, community, cultural connections and more since 2003~!
Martha JOY Rose, Founding Director
2025 MoM HIGHLIGHTS
Welcomed new board members: Amy Collins, Libby Hopkins, Meagan Welch, Regan Moss, and Tracie Williams to the MoM Executive Board.
Expanded our program team to include Jamika Rollins, Karimah Henry, Rachael Somerman, Dre Marie, LouAnne Hardtke, Amanda Bartles, Darlene Ceron, Lizzie Zacharis, and Susie Beltran.
Offered weekly free lactation consultations with Baby Café for breastfeeding support, advice, tools and conversation.
Partnered with Tampa Bay Period Pantry and Mutual Aid Choices Pantry to make products available to those seeking information, education, and free accessible items related to periods, birth control, and women’s health.
Produced Black Maternal Health mini-conference, addressing Black maternal health disparities and bringing together over 60 providers, birth workers, and funders to rally around community-led solutions.
Rocked out at Mamapalooza Family Festival with over 500 attendees and performances by local woman-founded and woman fronted bands.
Convened over 70 academics, artist, and students at the 20th Anniversary Academic & Arts Conference, hosted at USF St. Pete.
Implemented two photography and sculptural exhibits by local artists and welcomed two international artists, Julienne Doko and Raisa Nosova, for performances and mural works. (Huge gratitude to both amazing women) as well as student exhibits about ‘Caring St Pete’.
Secured over $50,000 in NEW grant funding through Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, Foundation for Healthy St. Pete, and the City of St. Pete.
MoM is celebrating a highly successful 2025, and we are on track to reach an annual fundraising goal of $100,000. This fundraising goal not only supports the ongoing work of MoM but makes it possible for our team to secure a permanent home in Tampa Bay and bring on paid staff members to expand our footprint as the one and only international destination museum devoted to the art, science, and history of women, m/others & families.
I hope you will consider making a tax-deductible year-end gift. 100% of your gift supports the longevity of the first and only museum of motherhood in the world. Our year-end giving campaign builds on all the success of 2025, see our donations and progress in real-time here.
This project focuses on the intersection of reproductive technology and cross-cultural perspectives, exploring how artificial intelligence is reshaping future experiences of “procreation” and “motherhood.”
As an artist and curator from East Asia now living in the United States, I aim to reflect on the different understandings of the female body and reproduction in Eastern and Western societies .And I will consider whether the intervention of AI technology may shift these cultural differences.
Through collaborations with artists of diverse nationalities, I will explore how humanity’s understanding of “motherhood” and “identity” evolves artistically when technology intervenes in the creation of life and the construction of identity. These artworks will employ varied materials and techniques to depict artists’ visions of future reproduction, presenting abstract perspectives on the possibilities of human evolution. They will amplify the reproductive relationship between motherhood and living organisms for the audience.
This project aims to connect individual memories with global shifts, inviting audiences to reconsider: In an era of rapid globalization and artificial intelligence advancement, are the identity and meaning of motherhood also undergoing transformation? How do people confront the long- standing biological relationships of life being overturned amidst the relentless march of evolutionary progress?
The Mess We Live In: What Clutter, Kids, and Culture Wars Reveal About Family Life
The notion of a “messy home” might conjure up images of toys strewn across the living room, dishes piling up in the sink, or laundry spilling out of baskets especially at times of duress. But the reality of mess is deeply tied to the internal worlds of families, to stress, identity, and even to the cultural divides that shape our society. At the Museum of Motherhood, exploring the messy intersections of parenting, culture, and mental health can be a powerful lens into what family life really feels like.
Mess Isn’t Just Physical — It’s Psychological, Social and Cultural
Evidence that women experience chronic stress not because the home is messy, but because society holds them responsible for preventing mess is a recognized truth.
Mess House – Courtesy Batya Weinbaum & Demeter Press
The Founder’s Bed – 2025
Tara Blackwell – MoM Residency 2019
Museum of Motherhood – NYC 2012
Martha Joy Rose – Grad School Mother Studies CUNY circa 2014
Debra Knox – TV Collage, CA circa 2008
Museum of Motherhood, NYC 2012
Spilt Milk – USF WGS Exhibit 2020
Emily at MoM, NYC 2013
Arlene’s Grocery, NYC 2008
Personal values — about lifestyle, morality, and behavior — can become battlegrounds for the debate about parenting styles and what constitutes a “good home”. This can be tricky territory. These debates can reflect broader cultural divides: who is responsible for domestic labor, how children should be raised, and what order or rituals define a “proper” family.
In a sense, the cluttered living room isn’t just a mess — it’s a battleground of values. Who gets to decide what “clean” means? Whose routines are prioritized? And how do power and labor dynamics play out in the seemingly mundane fights over tidying up?
Who cleans, who organizes, and who nags about mess often isn’t neutral territory. There’s emotional labor involved in maintaining a home, and that labor frequently falls disproportionately on women. For some, the answer is to simplify. For others the answer may lie in leaving the mess for another day.
What’s most important is feeling loved, safe and protected. Does your environment do that for you and how much control do ‘we’ actually have? What are the implications when we free ourselves from the mess or conversely embrace the mess?
At its heart, the reality of mess is a story about family, vulnerability, and power. Clutter isn’t just junk — it’s emotional freight, a signal of how we live, what we value, and how we struggle to balance the competing demands of parenting, culture, and self. In exploring mess through a psychological and cultural lens, the Museum of Motherhood can invite deeper conversations: not about being “better” mothers, but about being more honest, more human, and more connected to the complexities of our lived lives.
About the Exhibit
Mess House: A New Photo Exhibition by Martha Joy Rose MA Mother Studies. This exhibit wishes to gratefully acknowledge The Factory LLC organization for the use of wall space in Building 7 to explore archived photos from her personal collection. Exploring the compelling idea of a ‘Mess House’ is a somewhat universal theme. As humans we seek to create order (oftentimes ineffectually), confront our wildness and occasionally find acceptance and peace within the chaos of daily life and family.
Batya Weinbaum received her doctorate in English at University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She founded and edits the journal Femspec available at femspec.org. She was an artist in residence at the Art Annex of the Museum of Motherhood in St. Pete FL where she installed a mural of a fertility goddess, and she volunteers for the Museum in the winter. She is the mother of one and stays in Gulfport, FL several months in the winter where she shows her art.
From the Chapter Mess House, by Batya Weinbaum- Demeter Press 2025
When are we feral, self-expressive, and untamed to the degree that we throw out the baby with the bathwater so to speak in our revolt against traditional concepts of femininity and motherhood represented in conventional markers and paradigms of domestication—the swept, mopped floor, the uncluttered shining feng shui of spaces, the organized linen cabinets, the bare countertops in the spotless kitchens?
Those born into female bodies get the most pressure from society to meet unrealistic expectations of physical beauty. These unrealistic expectations of their bodies are parallel to the unrealistic expectations women are encouraged to have about their domestic space.[1]
Flo Kennedy noted, in her essay on “Institutionalized Oppression of the Female,” that “Women are dirt searchers; their greatest worth…” being “eradicating rings on collars and tables” (442). In doing so, and maintaining organization, they are keeping wildness at bay. (1. According to Women and Naturism: The Naturist Living Show (Mar 17 2010)
Resources:
Aviv, E., Waizman, Y., Kim, E., Liu, J., Rodsky, E., & Saxbe, D. (2024).Cognitive household labor: gender disparities and consequences for maternal mental health and wellbeing.Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 28(1), 5–14.
This study empirically measures the “cognitive labor” (planning, delegating, anticipating) that mothers do, and finds that mothers bear significantly more cognitive labor than their partners (~72% of it) even after controlling for physical tasks.
Importantly, the authors show that this disproportionate cognitive labor is strongly associated with higher stress, burnout, depression, and worse overall mental health in women.
Relevance: This offers direct evidence for your claim: the stress comes not just from “doing the cleaning,” but from being responsible for organizing and thinking about the household — and society (or their partners) expects women to carry that burden.
Ciciolla, L., & Luthar, S. S. (2019).Invisible Household Labor and Ramifications for Adjustment: Mothers as Captains of Households.Sex Roles, 81(7–8), 467–486.
This paper examines how the “invisible labor” (mental, emotional) related to managing the household is disproportionately carried by mothers.
They find that mothers who feel solely responsible for organizing schedules, maintaining order, and keeping family routines report role overload, lower life satisfaction, and strain in their relationships.
Relevance: Demonstrates that the expectation that women “manage the mess” — not just physical cleanliness but mental oversight — has measurable negative effects on their wellbeing.
Systematic Review: Gendered Mental Labor
Review article:Gendered Mental Labor: A Systematic Literature Review on the Cognitive Dimension of Unpaid Work Within the Household and Childcare.
This review analyzed 31 peer-reviewed studies and found a consistent pattern: women perform a significantly larger share of mental labor (planning, scheduling, organizing) and this labor is associated with stress, lower life satisfaction, and negative career impacts.
Relevance: Supports the broader claim that this kind of labor is well-recognized in academic literature as gendered, burdensome, and harmful — not just “messy house, messy brain.”
Applied Research in Quality of Life:
Study:Is Paid Inflexible Work Better than Unpaid Housework for Women’s Mental Health? (2022)
The authors argue and provide evidence that unpaid housework (which includes domestic tasks and more than just physical chores) is negatively linked to women’s mental health, partly because these efforts are culturally undervalued and invisible.
Relevance: This supports the idea that society often fails to recognize or reward invisible domestic labor — reinforcing that the stress women feel is not just from physical mess but from societal expectations.
Offer, S. (via summary in Smithsonian article).
Relevance: Demonstrates that the stress is not about amount of time thinking about family, but about how that thinking is gendered and emotionally taxing for women.
According to research by Shira Offer (Bar-Ilan University) reported in the Smithsonian, women and men spend equal time thinking about family matters, but women report significantly more negative emotional effects (stress, depression) from that cognitive labor.
How Do You Identify? Passion, Protest, Reproductive Identity, Mess & More? Submit Your Ideas, project, paper, art, proposal, research now thru 12/1/25. Don’t Be Afraid – Put Your Ideas Into the World w/MoM at USF.
Annual Call for Papers MoM Conference 2026
Attend Our Workshops, Book the Escape Womb Experience, Tour MoM
Holiday Giving- Merchandise That Moves You As A Thank You For Your Donation at MoM! Memberships, Guest Artists, Tee Shirts, Books & More: Visit Us at The Factory, St Pete 2606 Fairfield Ave. S St Pete
Women’s Museum St Pete at the Museum of Motherhood
Support the Mural – Aging Women All Around the World Starts in St Pete!
Gratitude from the Mother Land — As autumn paints the world in shades of pumpkin and pink, the Museum of Motherhood reflects on gratitude. We give thanks for the stories, events, and collaborations that continue to nourish the collective journey.
We honor the abundance of care and creativity that define the term Mother-Land. We identify with a grand imperative that encourages reflection on what is good and possible in a world united by love and rooted in empathy. In that spirit, not the spooky one, we say YES to health, wellness and connection at MoM:
SUBMISSIONS OPEN: Call for Papers and Art: Annual International MoM Conference 2026 at USF (See Call for Submissions)
NEW EXHIBIT COMING TO FRONT OF MoM SPACE: First Series- Mess House, opening first week of November, followed by Bad Mother Myth Busting (Submit Responses Here) in the new year).
WHOLE GIRL: This is Me – ongoing health series with information for adolescents (Link). With take-home gift pack!
SEMINARS – Nourish & Flourish with Dre Marie as part of the Radiant Alignment series for women online and in-person especially reflecting on self-care during the busy holiday season. Ages 20-80 yrs. (Link). With take-home gift pack!
SUPPORT & PUT MoM ON THE MAP with the work of Spanish artist and muralist Marina Capdevilathe with her documentary and mural “Viejas Glorias” —Celebrating the Power and Beauty of Women Aging (Link)
CALL FOR SUPPORT INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY & MURAL MAKING
Emmy Award-Winning Documentarian Brings Global “Viejas Glorias” Project to St. Petersburg—Celebrating the Power and Beauty of Women Aging
St. Petersburg, FL — [October 24, 2025] — St. Petersburg selected as U.S. kickoff city for groundbreaking international documentary series challenging how society views aging women!
Spanish artist and muralist Marina Capdevila is bringing her internationally acclaimed Viejas Glorias (Glorious Old Women) project to the historic Princess Martha in St. Petersburg as part of a five-city global documentary series. St. Petersburg has been selected as the U.S. launch city, joining host cities in China, Spain, Peru, and Ghana in a transformative exploration of how women—particularly mothers and grandmothers—are perceived as they age.
The project requires $30,000 by December 1, 2025, to cover artist materials, labor, and the professional film crew’s travel and production costs. In these uncertain times, when many are navigating financial challenges, every contribution—large or small—makes a meaningful difference in ensuring this important story is told. Limited exclusive sponsorship opportunities are available at various levels.
This is more than a mural project—it’s a movement to reshape how we see and value women as they age. It’s an opportunity to position St. Petersburg on the international stage as a city that champions inclusive representation and celebrates the fullness of women’s lives. See the fullPRESS RELEASE.
YOU ARE INVITED! Free Museum Day is September 20th, 2025 in St Petersburg, FL. Together we are making love happen all around the Sunshine City. We will be open 12-6PM with fun activities for all. Just show up. Directions to MoM are here. Take the bus, the car or walk – we can’t wait to see you.
Then, Sunday Sept 21st is Black Maternal Healthmini-conference with brunch and learn. We are grateful to our entire team for making this event possible. Thanks to our sponsors, organizers, speakers, audience members and all those people who are interested in this essential subject matter because together we rise!
The CFP for our MoM Annual Academic & Arts Conference March 27-29, 2026 in St Pete and online is posted. Please join us by submitting your art, academic research, authoethnographic work on the subject of Reproductive Identities and Resistance: Mothers and Others in Culture, Community and Collaboration. The full Call for Submissions is at JourMS.org and on our museum site.
New programming at MoM aims to our ongoing work in the realm of health, wellness and education with new seminars coming soon supported by Community Empowerment Leader Sierra M. Clark and Radiant Dre Marie. Registration is here! Questions: write INFO@MOMmuseum.org or call 877-711-MOMS (6667) and leave a message.
Upcoming Seminars at the Museum of Motherhood
Seminar Series with Sierra M ClarkRadiant Alignment with Dre MarieRadiant Alignment with Dre MarieRadiant Alignment with Dre MarieRadiant Alignment with Dre MarieRadiant Alignment with Dre MarieRadiant Alignment with Dre Marie
Radiant Alignment with Dre Marie
Thank you to our Black Maternal Health Brunch and Learn Sponsors
Black Maternal Health Orlando HealthBlack Maternal Health Sponsor St Anthony’s HospitalBlack Maternal Health Sponsor Unlimited PediatricBlack Maternal Health Sponsor Healthy Start Coalition
Huge gratitude to FloridaRAMA and all our sponsors, presenters and organizers with a special shout out to Jill M. Wood for serving as conference chair and Mary Havlock of Little House nonprofit for organizing.
Courtney West on TV for Black Maternal Health Brunch and Learn at MoM
MoM Conference Flyer
Call for presentations Annual Academic MoM Conference 2026
Congratulations! After tallying all the nominations, we’re excited to let you know that MoM has officially advanced to the voting round for Best of the Bay 2025!
Last year, over 5 million impressions on the voting website alone for Best of TB. Won’t you join us in making m/otherhood more visible? See a few of our current stats: From Google 30k have viewed our photos, 25k in grant funds released to the Museum of Motherhood for work in the Health, Education and Wellness arena, 5 new Executive Board Members join MoM for a total of 9 Board Members, and four high school interns celebrate paid work with us this summer with extensive programming each month.
Remember: Voting is from July 17th through August 20th!Vote as many times as you can!
MoM has a full roster of events and a new easily navigable calendar that includes art, health, wellness and education. Also, make sure to register to join us at our upcoming brunch and mini-conference in collaboration with FloridaRAMA. EVENTS PAGE IS HERE.
Black Maternal Health brunch and mini-conference MoM
Lunch and Learn with MoM. The purpose of this mini-conference is to collaborate with local birth workers and healthcare professionals to understand the causes and correlates of challenges to Black women’s maternal health in order to implement changes in Pinellas county. This Museum of Motherhood event is sponsored by FloridaRAMA, organized by Jill M. Wood and the Health, Wellness, and Education Committee. This lunch and learn session will educate attendees about Black maternal health from a holistic perspective using the expertise of these presenters. REGISTER:
Jill M. Wood, PhD, Conference Chair is a Teaching Professor in the department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State where she teaches courses on reproductive justice, girls and women’s health, women’s sexuality, and relationship & sexual violence prevention. As a researcher, Professor Wood has published journal articles and book chapters on the role of alcohol use in sexual behaviors with high HIV risk, menstruation and menopause, & pregnancy and childbirth. The mama of three teenagers, Jill regularly volunteers her time to talk with community students, parents, teachers and staff about relationship and sexual violence prevention, consent education, and healthy relationships. Jill was instrumental in assisting with guidance and advice for MoM’s Escape Womb Experience. She is also the academic coordinator and chair of the brunch and mini-conference Sept 21, 2025.
Courtney West a proud St. Petersburg native and the owner of 3 Gems Birth Services where everyone deserves care. Courtney is a full spectrum doula, doula educator, and a licensed practical nurse with a background in pediatric home health, and mental health nursing.
Shamella “Mel” Joy is a trauma-informed therapist, her background includes working with veterans and refugee families, providing her with extensive experience in helping clients process and heal from past traumas and PTSD. Mel integrate Mindfulness, Holistic Psychotherapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in her work with individuals struggling with anxiety, depression, identity and self-esteem challenges, ADD/ADHD, and childhood trauma. Mel’s passion lies in supporting new parents grappling with the challenges of postpartum life, as well as those facing the uncertainties of fertility struggles and perinatal loss.
Tracie Williams is the proprietor of The Natal Network and the founder of Jehovah Rapha-Jireh Transformation Health Inc. She serves on the Health, Wellness and Education Committee at MOM. The Natal Network, a Tampa Bay-based maternal wellness doula service, was established to enhance maternal-fetal outcomes.
Tracy Cook-Person is a hoodoo practitioner, doula, folk Herbalist, educator, lecturer, professional storyteller and a published poet. She has been an Assistant Professor at LIU in the School of Education and Technology as well as an Instructor of Pedagogy and Clinical Practice for the TR@TC2 program in the Office of Teacher Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.
About Museum of Motherhood (MoM)
Museum of Motherhood believes a more comprehensive understanding of pregnancy, birth and the value of caregiving-work will lead to healthier and happier homes, more productive workplaces, and better social policies. Our Black Maternal Health conference will specifically uplift the expertise and insight of Black practitioners working directly with the South St. Pete community. http://www.mommuseum.orgLINK to tix
Meet Our Board
Left to right: Regan Moss, Courtney Kessle, Libby Hopkins, Deanna Barcelona, Tracie Williams, Barbara Lynch, Amy Collins, Anna Leiggi, Meagan Welch
MoM is so pleased to welcome five NEW Executive Board Members to our team. See bios and read more on our team page.
New Exhibit
Caring St Pete Exhibit
Caring St. Pete: 6-Week Summer Intern Project PlanFor High School Interns and Community members at the Museum of Motherhood
Project Overview: Explore and interpret the value of caregiving—both unpaid and paid (carework)—through research, storytelling, art, and community engagement. The final product will be a curated exhibit at the Museum of Motherhood. See exhibit page.
MoM Residency August
Sarah Nellis is a multidisciplinary, British artist, working freely across 2D, 3D and time-based media. She reflects on life’s cycles: birth, grief and personal transformation, questioning ideas of permanence and exploring the in-between spaces of change. She seeks to reassert maternal narratives often marginalized in cultural and political discourse.
AMPLIFY
MoM Directory
Motherhood & Matrescence is a resource for mothers. Supporting mums to feel more confident. Education services as well as a masterclass is for mothers of all ages and stages. Mothers of tinies, toddlers, tweens and teens. LINK
Museum of Motherhood, St. Petersburg (2606 Fairfield Ave South, St. Petersburg, FL 33712)
Volunteer (we’re grateful if you can) or $17/hour
