Tim Hetherington, (Liverpool, England 1970–2011, Misrata, Libya), Untitled (Liberia), 2004, Digital chromogenic color print, Museum purchase with funds provided by Wellesley College Friends of Art 2012.21

In his work as a photojournalist during the Second Liberian Civil War (1999-2003), Tim Hetherington intentionally chose to avoid scenes of violence and gore. He instead captured war as a constant looming threat to those who are experiencing it, thereby highlighting the stories of individuals. In this photograph, a man dressed in a military uniform appears in the distance but the viewer is drawn to the women in the foreground. On the left, a woman carries a baby (perhaps her child) on her back while balancing ammunition canisters on her head. To the right, another woman holds two rocket-propelled grenades. Through such images, Hetherington documented the realities of life during a civil war, which for women included balancing their roles as mothers and as participants in the war machine. 

During the summer of 2021, Eleanor P. DeLorme Intern Rachel Beaton (‘21) curated a series of six acquisitions donated by members of the Friends of Art at the Davis, with a focus on the theme of motherhood. Over the course of the 2021-2022 academic year, the Davis will present each artwork individually for a time period of two months. By addressing topics as varied as war, prosperity, intimacy, and reverence, these artworks grapple with the image of the mother as a complex—and often conflicted—figure in both art history and the artists’ personal lives.