EYE MAMA PROJECT

A RADICAL EYE ON CARE !

Eye mama project is a global movement and photographic archive, created by Bafta nominated filmmaker Photographer Karni Arieli on Instagram in 2021.

It showcases the “mama gaze”, inviting submissions by photographers who identify as mothers, parents and carers documenting their personal experience of care through self-portraiture. The dark and light, the imperfections and the beauty, sharing the duality complexity and truths of motherhood in current times.

Reaching over 70 countries, it brings together a diverse network of photographers and viewers working in different cultural and social contexts, united by the act of care. The portfolio gives visibility to all realities of motherhood, the challenges and joys it holds, reaching beyond traditional ideals and common popular culture depictions.

Eye Mama is rooted in championing women, and recognises motherhood in its expansive forms, inclusive of IVF journeys, adoptive and foster care, LGBTQ+ and gender diverse parenthood.

The Project has been featured in Vogue, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Creative Review, Aesthetica, National Geographic, BBC news, and honoured with the Webby, Lovie, and Anthem Awards for Social Diversity and Inclusion (2024).

In May 2023 TeNeues /Gestalten published The book : Eye Mama: Poetic Truths of Home and Motherhood. Featuring 228 selected images from Eye mama project through an open call, it received global critical acclaim and has sold over 4,000 copies. It also won the prestigious Lucie Photo Book award in 2024.

The Eye Mama projects next ambition is to create a permanent digital archive,

safeguard the online platform from censorship and expand global reach through talks, open-calls and exhibitions, ensuring these voices remain visible in history for generations to come.

It currently has 70k submissions of mama gaze and counting. With 4k images submitted to open call.

“Eye Mama began as a community platform on Instagram during 2021, shining a light on motherhood and care. We invited photographers who identified as ‘mamas’ to take and share a self-portrait. The response was unprecedented. We created a powerful, global conversation that continues to thrive as a growing community.” – Karni Arieli

The Book: Eye Mama: Poetic Truths of Home and Motherhood

Published in 2023, Eye Mama: Poetic Truths of Home and Motherhood from a global Open Call that received over 4,200 submissions. 600 were shortlisted by a jury of experts including Alessia Glaviano (Global Director of PhotoVogue) and Sarah Leen (Director of Photography, National Geographic) and 228 photographs were selected from photographer mothers, parents and carers across 70+ countries. The book is stocked in leading cultural institutions including Tate Modern, the Photographers’ Gallery, Arnolfini, Royal Photographic Society, as well as global retailers like Selfridges and Harrods as well as online. It has sold thousands of copies worldwide.

OUR COMMUNITY

Eye Mama has grown into a global network of 27,000 Instagram followers, 90% women including mothers, female identifying photographers and artists. We have received submissions from 70+ countries with over 70,000 images shared under the #EyeMamaProject hashtag.

More than 4,000 photographers worldwide responded to our Open Call for the book, resulting in a curated archive of 600 images ready to be showcased in exhibitions publications and research.

Eye Mama has proven its ability to inspire participation, generate high-quality content, attract media attention and sustain a committed global audience.

OUR IMPACT

• 5 years running (entirely self/un-funded)

• 27,000+ Instagram followers

• 70,000+ images under #EyeMamaProject

• 70+ countries represented

• 4,200+ Open Call submissions, 228 published

• 4,000+ books sold, stocked at Tate, Photographers Gallery, Arnolfini, Royal Photographic Society, Selfridges, Harrods

• Featured in Creative Review, National Geographic, Vogue, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Aesthetica, BBC News

• Winner of Webby, Lovie & Anthem Awards (2024)

• 1,000+ newsletter subscribers

AND WE CAN DO SO MUCH MORE….

SEE PORTFOLIO ON INSTAGRAM @EYEMAMAPROJECT

AND ALL PRESS AND LINKS HERE AND IN BIO.

“GIVING VISIBILITY TO MOTHERHOOD TRUTHS, AS WE CANT EMPOWER THE INVISIBLE…”

Karni Arieli

Alessia Glaviano head of Global Photo Vogue says :

“This is first and foremost a book about love, starting with the passion and unwavering faith that brought this book into being, even when the path wasn’t so straightforward. i perfectly remember when karni first presented me with her project. it was the beginning of the pandemic, a gloomy and dark period, and her brilliant idea warmed my heart in a much-needed moment. eye mama is a simple, lucid concept, and like all beautiful things it manages to encompass so many layers of complexity, touching on political, social, and even philosophical issues with clarity and purity. you can delve into these topics in our a interview and in the essay, but here i would just like to highlight the sense of love and sisterhood that permeates all aspects of this important document. we live in a society that’s mostly blind to other people’s needs unless they serve some sort of selfish purpose. unless they serve us. amid this overwhelming individualism, the artists and mothers in the book are quietly teaching us a lesson. it’s a lesson taught by doing, without judgments. it’s about letting go of one’s ego, not only because that’s what all mothers do or because in these beautiful images we move away from a stereotypical romanticized representation of motherhood, but above all because the power of eye mama is the shared experience, the community. it’s a community that caters to human beings in their entirety: we might not all be mothers, but we were all someone’s child, and we all love and care for somebody. eye mama is about removing oneself from the center of the universe to finally see how much we owe to our relationships, to finally recognize our place in this intricate web of connections, and to finally understand

that we are here for one thing only: to love each other.”

Testimonials Eye mama community

2025

“It was a nice to wake up this morning to this bbc article about Eye mama featuring an image i took in lockdown that changed the course of my work forever. 

when the world went into lockdown, i was four months pregnant with twins. of course i felt very lucky, but i also felt very scared. as a freelance creative with two small children already, wondering how the financial, physical and general logistics would work was a big worry. much of my work was shot abroad, edited at home. i’d wanted more work closer to home but hadn’t quite made the transition yet. my husband and i had always been a good team, we always made things work but with lockdown thrown in and the work drying up, my eternal positivity wasn’t cracking through as it might. 

i spotted the eye mama insta account which showed beautiful, interesting and creative photography of the thing that i’d tried to hide away from my professional life - family life.seeing what other women were posting encouraged me to have my camera out at home and i started taking pictures again. i loved it. it was making me feel good, keeping creative eye muscle working and it helped me feel much more positive about our situation.i started sharing my images too. wonderful karni arieli (the founder) and others encouraged me. i felt part of a community in a time that was very lonely. by the time my twins arrived, i felt like i had a language and a body of work to share. this image was included in a royal photographic society exhibition, articles around the world and it was included in a beautiful book (available at the photographer’s gallery - the joy of that!). the chain of reaction continues, my work didn’t stop, it evolved as did my confidence. and i thank @eyemamaproject for this. this is just my story but the project is home to 70,000 images taken by women from more than 60 countries. it is a beautiful community that elevates women - and it has been a huge labour of love.”

photograoher Eye mama Eleanor Church  

uk

“The eye mama platform has been instrumental in elevating my voice as both a photographer and a mother, providing a space where artistry and motherhood intersect in meaningful ways. through this community, i have found a supportive network of like-minded artists who understand the nuances of capturing the raw, intimate, and profound moments of motherhood. eye mama has given visibility to my work, allowing me to share my perspective with a wider audience. i was fortunate in being able to display my work in the eye mama book as well as the photovogue exhibition. however, this platform is not just about showcasing my work—it’s about being part of something bigger, where creativity and motherhood come together in the most powerful way.”

photographer eye mama Julia Cybularz

“Being an artist and a mom is still like running with weights on. 

i can’t tell you how many times i’ve checked another woman artist’s biography to see if they are a mom. 

i think, "oh god, her work is so great, but does she have children? like, are we in the same race? "

but i would say that lately, thankfully,  when i look at these eye mama pictures, i feel like a survivor and i feel like i’m part of a very brave community.

being in the eye mama book and exhibitions has really made me think harder about the fact that powerful white men have dictated the terms of reproduction and representation of motherhood for two centuries. 

in their version of history, they have diminished the role of motherhood even though its the root of our highly social species. (and in art history- remember that in 20224 87% of art in museum collections in the united states was made by men. 87%!!!

the eye mama project  is one attempt to balance out that point of view.”

photographer eye mama Tabitha Soren

berkeley california 

“The mother gaze. imagine trying to capture the fleeting beauty of everyday life whilst simultaneously negotiating hungry babies, grumpy toddlers or teenage eye rolls. as a photographer mom, i constantly juggle creative passion alongside my job as a mother. i am a self taught photographer, and my teachers are my three girls. the lessons they taught me shape every picture i make now. the gaze of women, mainly of motherhood, is often overlooked in mainstream photography circles. it can feel so defeating. what karni has given to me, and countless other mother photographers through her passion project “eye mama” is the ability to show that our unique view has a firm place with our images on a global stage. i am so grateful. we need to help support this project, for women, for mothers and for everyone.”

photographer eye mama Blaire Hawes

phoenix, arizona

EYE MAMA IS THE FUTURE !! JOIN US