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TWO NEW EXHIBITS: SPMOP & MILK FUTURES

MoM is pleased to host two new exhibits: St Pete Month of Photography in our Gallery Space at The Factory featuring photos and reflections by Heather Whitten titled ‘This is What Abortion Looks Like‘ along with a special online student exhibition titled Milk Futures: Kinship in the Age of Technology by Zixin Shang.

This Is What Abortion Looks Like

A person's hand holding several white pills above a wooden table with lit candles and flowers.
SPMOP gallery exhibit featuring photos by Heather Whitten
Gallery Talk titled This is what abortion looks like, by saint petersburg month of photography will take place on may 23 at 6 p/m/ at the musuem of motherhood in staint petersburg. attend on eventbrite.

By Heather Whitten

This project was born from a need to make the unseen visible.
To witness what medication abortion actually looks like in real bodies, real spaces.
These images offer a more honest, human understanding of abortion.

MoM Gallery during regular museum hours: May 1st to May 29th

Gallery talk with the artist on Saturday, May 23th at 6.00pmMuseum of Motherhood-2606 Fairfield Ave S Building 7 Door B, Saint Petersburg, FL, United States, 33713

This is a production of the Saint Petersburg Month of Photography in collaboration with the Museum of Motherhood.

Art gallery interior featuring a red ottoman and framed photographs on the wall.
SPMOP gallery exhibit featuring photos by Heather Whitten
A corner of a gallery featuring four framed photographs on a beige wall, with a concrete floor.
SPMOP gallery exhibit featuring photos by Heather Whitten
An informational sign titled 'THIS IS WHAT ABORTION LOOKS LIKE' describing an art project by Heather Whitten, exploring personal experiences of abortion through collaboration with various participants.
SPMOP gallery exhibit featuring photos by Heather Whitten
A display table featuring framed photographs related to abortion, with a sign inviting guests to a gallery talk by photographer Heather Whitten. Yellow flowers in a vase are also present.
SPMOP gallery exhibit featuring photos by Heather Whitten

Milk Futures: Kinship In The Age of Technology

Curated by Zixin Shang, Master of Fine art in Studio art George Washington University, multi-media artist and curator, Zixin (Cassie) brings a background in public and studio art.

Zixin’s practice—spanning painting, installation, 3D modeling, and photography—explores cross-cultural narratives, female identity, and emotional memory.

Her curatorial vision centers on how exhibitions can serve as both structures and channels for the exchange of ideas, with a special focus on the mental and physical experiences of Asian women.

Milk Futures brings together six female artists from diverse national and cultural backgrounds. Encompassing sculpture, video, painting and performance, their work interrogates the evolving landscape of breastfeeding, kinship and the political occupation of the maternal body within public and legal domains.These works present the multifaceted nature of motherhood in contemporary life. The exhibition highlights the maternal body as a site of nourishment and care, while also exploring how kinship is precariously sustained within social spaces defined by constraint and deprivation.

This exhibition connects individual experiences with cross-cultural perspectives and confronts the viewer to reconsider: in an era of globalization and rapid technological development, are the meanings of “nature” and “family” beginning to change? When the maternal body as the very source of nourishment is strangled by legal structures and political pressure, who ultimately determines its autonomy?

Full Exhibit Launches May 10th

A promotional image for the exhibit 'Milk Futures: Kinship in the Age of Technology' at MOM Museum, featuring six individuals' portraits and the exhibit title with a thematic question about the changing meanings of 'nature' and 'family.'
Milk Futures Kinship in the Age of Technology
Support the Museum of Motherhood

For the past 23 years, this social change experiment has grown into a living archive, educational space, and community gathering place dedicated to one of the most universal human experiences: motherhood. At the Museum of Motherhood, we believe that the stories, labor, creativity, and scientific realities connected to women, mothers, caregiving, birth, and family life deserve to be seen, studied, and celebrated.

MoM operates on a shoestring budget with a passionate team of volunteers committed to enlightening perspectives on women, mothers, and families. We shine a light on the art of motherhood as well as the science and herstory of these creators, culture makers, and change-makers. Through exhibits, educational programs, performances, research, conversations, and community events, we create space for dialogue around topics too often overlooked despite touching every human life.

Your support helps preserve stories that might otherwise be forgotten. It helps us provide accessible cultural programming, support artists and scholars, engage students and interns, and foster meaningful conversations about caregiving, identity, health, equity, family, and human connection.

At a time when loneliness, division, burnout, and economic strain affect so many families, institutions like MoM matter more than ever. We are building a future where caregiving is valued, where women’s experiences are documented with dignity, and where people of all backgrounds can come together to explore what it means to nurture life, community, and one another.

When you support the Museum of Motherhood, you are not simply funding a museum. You are investing in education, empathy, history, creativity, and social change. You are helping ensure that the invisible labor and profound contributions of mothers and caregivers are finally recognized as central to human culture and civilization.

We invite you to become part of this growing movement. Every donation, membership, volunteer hour, partnership, and shared story helps keep this important work alive.

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Activism Art Birth Education Events Featured Featured Artists Feminism Fundraiser International Literature MAMA MaMaPaLooZa MOM Art Annex motherhood st petersburg The Factory, St Pete

1, 2, 3 – Let the May Countdown Begin!

May is Mothers’ Month– and here we are once more – celebrating the art, science, and herstory of American women and mothers with international collaborations. While MoM situates itself as a museum primarily focused on the last 250 years of North American women, m/others and families, our internships, conferences, and online exhibitions span the gamut from the UK to Canada, from Europe to Asia.

Here we go: LET THE MAY COUNTDOWN BEGIN!

ONE: May 1st was supposed to be the conclusion of our fundraising initiatives for fund our 2024-25 season, yet we persist. The Fundraiser continues to meet our 2024-25 Budget of $100K.

We thank the Rays and Rowdies for their recent sponsorship and we thank our new Founders Circle members: Liz Dimmitt, Aleks Miziolek, Betty Schaub and our assorted friends who have also contributed donations to this “We Build Tampa Bay” fundraiser.

In the meantime, our newest art exhibit, includes a collaborative work entitled ‘A Womb of Our OwnSeeing Red‘. This sculpture is currently onsite at MoM and will see its completion on Wednesday, May 8th with additional pieces contributed by Jessica Caldas. The sculpture assemblage includes the vision of MoM curator Martha Joy Rose and contributions by Leroy – the King of Art. Visit us Wednesday 6-7:30 PM to PLAY and CELEBRATE the fab new vision! But, first make your pledge to MoM by using this form or by donating directly to Join our Founders Circle.

We are also collaborating with The Saint Petersburg Month of Photography (SPMOP) for the exhibition MOTHER LENS: Four Visions of Motherhood: Mikaela Martin, Jena Love, Águeda Sanfiz, and  Angelika Kollin, present their reflections on motherhood with very distinctive voices that range from the visual personal journal, the photojournalistic essay,  conceptual photography, and fine art portraiture.  [More]

SPMOP Exhibit
Jessica Caldas Sculpture Rendering

TWO: MaMaPaLooZa is May 4th 10-4PM at The Factory in St. Pete in partnership with Fairgrounds St. Pete. Come to 2606 Fairfield Ave. S. Enjoy the day! FREE for the family with lots of activities, music, and discounted tix to the Fairgrounds. Full description on our page here.

THREE: 3 months is all we have at our current location at The Factory. Yes, that’s correct. May, June, July and then we begin looking for our next location. What does that mean? MoM’s going to need to make plans for where we pop up next. Have ideas? Want to help us make something happen? Get in touch. We need your input now. Join Us.

Summer Hours at MoM

Beginning immediately, our hours at The Factory May – July will be 12-6 Thursday-Sunday. If you are visiting locally or from out of town, make sure to book your tour in advance. We have a small volunteer team and sometimes may not be onsite if you have not pre-booked, however we do our best and you can always reach out! Call ahead 877-711-MOMS (6667) or write: INFO@MOMmuseum.org

Other Activities and Friends

The Mysteries About Manifestation Revealed from our friend Brett Cotter

New Program – Align Your Actions with Your Destiny 

There is something almost all other manifestation programs miss; how do you break free from the subconscious beliefs that manifests all the stress and lack in our lives? Mantras and affirmations will not stick if your deeper core beliefs are not in alignment. 

In this 4-Week Program you will be guided through 4 essential steps to manifest the life you want. 

You will be guided to: 

1. Identify your deepest desire and purpose

2. Release the old fear and programming you have around living your destiny now

3. Embody the new beliefs that automatically manifest the life you want

4. Align your time with your soul’s priorities

Facilitator: Brett Cotter, Author, Retreat Leader, and Trauma Recovery Expert with 20-years experience consciously working with the laws of manifestation. He teaches with his wife at the Omega Institute, Kripalu, Himalayan Institute, Tibet House, and Sivananda Ashram on Paradise Island. 

Price: Early bird special $99 ends May 3rd, after that $199

HURRY & REGISTER NOWhttps://www.stressisgone.com/page/287664

Join Us Online

Sunday, May 19 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM Online Motherhood: The Forever Job (FREE)– An evening of new writing by author and artist Suzi Banks Baum, followed by a discussion about the importance of writing motherhood with Joy Rose, award-winning artist, activist, and founder of the Museum of Motherhood. Participate in an Open Mic event for IWWG members and guests. Register Online.

Books

Matricentric feminism seeks to make motherhood the business of feminism by positioning mothers’ needs and concerns as the starting point for a theory and politic on and for the empowerment of women as mothers. Based on the conviction that mothering is a verb, it understands that becoming and being a mother is not limited to biological mothers or cisgender women but rather to anyone who does the work of mothering as a central part of their life. The Mother Wave, the first-ever book on the topic, compellingly explores how mothers need a matricentric mode of feminism organized from and for their particular identity and work as mothers, and because mothers remain disempowered despite sixty years of feminism. MoM Founder & Director, Martha Joy Rose has a chapter in this book. Order yours now.

More

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Birth Caregiving Dads Events Featured Featured Artists Feminism Fl Fundraiser History International JourMS MAMA MaMaPaLooZa Media MOM Art Annex Opportunities Queering Parenting st petersburg The Factory, St Pete

MoM’s Got Ya, This Month and Every Month…and Forever

May is coming and May is Mothers’ Month. What do we make of this month of observances at the Museum of Motherhood? Years ago, just over one-hundred years, Mother’s Day was voted into legislation as a national day of observance. On May 8, 1914, the U.S. Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day requesting a proclamation which Woodrow Wilson signed into law.

We are grateful to Bob Eckstein for the release of his most recent book Footnotes from the Most Fascinating Museums, available to order online, which includes a shout out to the Museum of Motherhood. What an awesome surprise! Thank you, Bob.

The very first American celebration of Mother’s Day was in Grafton West Virginia, organized by Anna Jarvis who wanted a day for families to commemorate their loved ones. Previous versions of a motherhood movement prioritized social involvement for mothers for the betterment of society including peace initiatives like the one that Julia Ward Howe is famous for. In that context, the reading becomes Mothers’ Day (notice the apostrophe) (Read more here).

As the founder of the Museum of Motherhood, I was fortunate to celebrate the one hundred year anniversary of Mother’s Day with my own mother, as the featured speaker at the historic landmark St Andrews Methodist Church, which is the International Mother’s Day Shrine in Grafton West Virginia. My keynote talk addressed the importance of place, one of the core components of the commitment I feel towards the Museum of Motherhood. Humans need physical places to acknowledge our embodied experiences and to activate memory and cultural identities.

I purposely chose to embrace motherhood as a socially engaged activity involving not just families but the well-being of communities, hence my efforts on behalf of women, mothers and families (inclusive of all reproductive identities) through the years. As a young mom living in New York City, I learned how important friendship and collaboration are. The parks and playgrounds became my home away from home with four children in tow. Those friendships became the bedrock of my life as a mother. These gals were the people I turned to for support, compassion, understanding, and FUN! Since moving to Florida with my now adult children, I still look to my community of women for a shared sense of passion, camaraderie, and the mission of the MoM.

This year, for the first time in many, I said ‘yes’ to Liz Dimmitt at The Fairgrounds St Pete when she suggested we bring a MaMaPaLooZa Festival to Tampa Bay. The festival initiatives, begun in 2002, have worked alongside the Museum of Motherhood to generate more visibility regarding the labor, art, and enterprise of women. This year, marks the first time in over ten years, where I personally agreed to an event outside of MoM. So, in addition to our May fundraising activities at the museum to build a ‘Womb of Our Own‘, the MaMaPaLooZa Festival will take place on May 4th in partnership with The Fairgrounds St Pete at The Factory in Tampa Bay. Hope to see you there or at one of these other opportunities we will be creating this month! ~Martha Joy Rose, Director and Founder; MoM, MaMaPaLooZa

The Journal of Mother Studies: a peer-reviewed, international, interdisciplinary open-access, digital humanities hybrid project.

CFP 2024: Threads of Connection–Sorry/Not Sorry: Confronting mother (and other) blame–healing & resistance in contemporary culture and beyond. Submissions to the Journal are open until May 31st [Link to Submit]. Also seeking lead editor for the 2024 edition. MORE INFO.

The Saint Petersburg Month of Photography in collaboration with the Museum of Motherhood presents the exhibition MOTHER LENS: Four Visions of Motherhood: Mikaela Martin, Jena Love, Águeda Sanfiz, and  Angelika Kollin, present their reflections on motherhood with very distinctive voices that range from the visual personal journal, the photojournalistic essay,  conceptual photography, and fine art portraiture.  [More]

Description: Join us for a day of celebration and empowerment at MAMAPALOOZA St. Petersburg 2024! Hosted at The Factory by MoM and Fairgrounds St. Pete, this event honors and uplifts mothers and caregivers in our community through a dynamic mix of music, art, and camaraderie.

Special thanks to our sponsors: St. Anthony’s BayCare, Great Explorations Children’s Museum, The Barn UPT, and Stephanie Allen Coaching. MAMAPALOOZA St. Petersburg 2024 offers a diverse lineup of activities and entertainment for attendees of all ages. [LINK]

CALL TO ACTION: Join Our Founders Circle- Building MoM in Florida. Calling one hundred friends to invest in the future of Tampa Bay by helping us grow locally. Also, a Womb of Our Own Sculpture – Seeing Red coming this month.

MoM invites you to become join our Founders Circle by making a donation of $1,000 to fund our 2024-25 budget at The Factory in St. Pete. Donate and then help us celebrate the Museum of Motherhood in St. Pete. We invite YOU to join us as we bring this legacy project to its next phase of development. May 8th 6-7:30PM – Please PLEDGE by May 1st using our form here

MaMaPaLooZa PerformersMoMs ROCK! And, so do YOU!

In partnership with The Fairgrounds St. Pete

Event Title: MAMAPALOOZA Family Festival / FB invitation / FB Page

Date: Saturday, May 4, 2024

Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Location: The Factory, 2606 Fairfield Ave S, St. Petersburg, FL 33712

Susan B Music
Nora Ricci
Jennifer Medina
Hex Appeal – Girls Rock St Pete
The Rum Syndicate