Motherhood, identity, and the strange space in between.
Hungarian-Italian artist Barbara Mihalyi explores the intimate realities of early motherhood in In Between Horizons (2022), a photographic series about the physical and emotional transformation that comes with becoming a mother.
Becoming a mother doesn’t happen overnight. It’s an ongoing negotiation between who you were, who you are, and who you are becoming. In Barbara’s images, those different versions of herself seem to exist at the same time: the woman she was before, the mother she has become, and the person still trying to figure out where she fits in between.
The series grew out of a profound shift in Barbara’s life following the birth of her child in 2021. Motherhood, the traumatic experience of childbirth and the postpartum depression that followed transformed the way she understood her body, identity, vulnerability and relationships.
Her photographs move through the quieter realities of this period: exhaustion, solitude, tenderness, attachment and the strange feeling of not quite recognising yourself anymore. Some images feel almost playful, while others are raw and vulnerable, refusing the polished, idealised version of motherhood we so often see.
And perhaps that’s what makes In Between Horizons so relatable. Motherhood can be full of love and still be incredibly difficult. Both things can exist at once.
Barbara’s work creates a space to sit with that contradiction, and with the messy process of becoming someone new without completely losing the person you were.
A tender, honest look at the woman behind the word “mother”. ♡
Scroll through In Between Horizons below.
More of Barbara Mihalyi’s work here: @barbara.mihalyi – @_ilovenoses_ – barbaramihalyi.com/
