Category: Group Exhibition
Family is complicated. Sometimes it is nurturing and safe. Sometimes it is toxic, absent, codependent, chaotic or just deeply weird.
Mommy Dearest explored the messy, painful and occasionally hilarious realities of family life through painting, photography, ceramics, sculpture and mixed media. The exhibition moved beyond idealized portraits of motherhood and family to examine inherited trauma, generational patterns, grief, judgment, control, resentment, memory and the complicated bonds that continue shaping us long after childhood.
Some works confronted experiences that are difficult to name. Others found humor in the dysfunction. Together, they created an honest portrait of family as it is actually experienced: imperfect, contradictory, deeply personal and rarely simple.
Presented at Not Shockboxx from October 30 through November 23, 2025, Mommy Dearest also included an artist talk and closing reception that invited artists and visitors to continue the conversation beyond the work.
Artists: Alison McMahon, Allyn Boley, Anu Kumar, Cecile, Connie Roldan, Francziska Steagall, Gamze Örgev, Ian Stewart, James Frost, Leigh Witherell, Loren Kane, Meagan Segal, Melanie Shedd, Michele Fulkerson, Peter Moen, Peter Sandback, Xi Lu
