This series of small gouache portraits on cardboard depicts female film characters who embody various forms of dysfunctional motherhood—figures considered “mad, bad, or sad.” Spanning genres from horror and thriller to drama and animation, the works draw from over 30 films made between the 1960s and today.
Cinema has long used the figure of the “bad mother” to explore—and exploit—cultural fears around motherhood, often turning grief, trauma, or mental illness into pathology. These portraits reflect archetypes of the destructive mother: negligent, overprotective, abusive, obsessive, or emotionally broken.
The exhibition highlights how film both mirrors and enforces impossible standards of maternal perfection, revealing a deep-rooted cultural misogyny. But it also gestures toward a shifting landscape, where a new generation of filmmakers is reimagining motherhood with greater complexity and compassion.
Maria Gasol is a visual artist from Barcelona living in Gortahork, Co. Donegal.
