By Julia Beauregard
Hometown Weekly Editor
Chelsea Robinson, a local mother, founder of Mama's Modern Village, and maternal mental health therapist, is hosting a series at the Medfield Public Library entitled, “Motherhood Unmasked.” This series is set to aid in creating an art exhibit on the theme of motherhood. Local mothers are invited to pick up a mask at the Medfield Public Library (MPL). The idea is that each mother will write words or draw pictures to depict the "ideal" mother figure or the role they feel pressured to fulfill. while the inside exposes the unseen emotions, challenges, and vulnerabilities of motherhood, including burnout and frustration.
Robinson shared her inspiration behind creating this project: “Given the challenges mothers have faced in recent years—heightened by the Surgeon General's warning on maternal mental health, the election, the holidays, and ongoing women's rights issues—it has never been more important to shed light on the reality of motherhood. This is why I am on a mission to "unmask" motherhood by exposing its true duality: the joy and the hard.”
The creation of this mask for the art exhibition piece of this series offers an artistic means of expression to invite mothers to take off their masks and seek community with other mothers to expose the duality of motherhood, as it is both rewarding and beautiful as well as stressful and difficult. Robinson went onto discuss the masks that mothers are often forced to wear: “Many mothers today wear metaphorical masks, hiding their real feelings behind the facade of "doing just fine." But beneath that mask, the truth is often filled with exhaustion, isolation, frustration, self-doubt, and even rage. For many, the experience of motherhood doesn’t align with the idealized version they once imagined, leading to painful emotional disconnects. This disconnect can result in suppressing those feelings to maintain the illusion of having it all together.”
The first workshop, which took place on January 28, covered the topic of Mom Shame. The mothers in attendance were guided by Robinson to learn the difference between guilt and shame, how to work through these difficult feelings of shame by discovering the cause and working to figure out a resolution, and to decided what it meant to each individual woman to be a “good mom” which is a very subjective answer. This workshop works to bring mothers together to help each woman realize that they are not alone in their matrescence and these complicated feelings that come along with being a mother are valid and normal.
There are two more workshops left in the “Motherhood Unmasked” series; the upcoming workshop, taking place on Thursday, February 20, will discuss Mom Rage and the final workshop which will take place on Tuesday, March 25 will cover vulnerability and community. All mothers are welcomed and encouraged to come even if they missed the first workshop. Registration is available on the Medfield Public Library website.
