mOther (ness)
THE TERM
The term «mOther (ness)» is a radical artistic and philosophical concept coined by Slovene bio-artist Maja Smrekar. It emerges from a lived, practice-based experiment titled Hybrid Family (2016). To grasp its meaning, one must move beyond the traditional notion of motherhood as a biological or social role tied to human reproduction. Instead, mOther (ness) proposes a micro-political, molecular, and posthuman ethic of care. At its core, mOther (ness) is a deliberate, performative construction of a care-giving relationship that transcends species, gender, and biological essentialism. Smrekar demonstrated this by preparing her non-pregnant, non-birthgiving body for lactation over 112 days through a strict protocol of diet, galactagogue herbs, and mechanical breast-pumping. This process intentionally stimulated the production of two key hormones: oxytocin (associated with empathy and bonding) and prolactin (responsible for milk production and homeostasis). The culmination was the act of breastfeeding a canine puppy, Ada, with her own colostrum.
This act is the literal and symbolic birth of the term. The unconventional spelling—mOther—is crucial. It visually and conceptually merges «mother» with «Other» (the capital O is often stylized to be struck through). Here, «Other» represents all that has been excluded by the traditional, humanist concept of «the Human»: the non-human, the alien, the different. Smrekar becomes «the Other as a mOther» by becoming a source of sustenance and care (mother) for the radically different (Other).
THE RELEVANCE
Relevant if read a little superficially because the theme is so relevant today, with all of our converging crises — ecocide, social collapse and the breakdown of anthropocentric politics. It offers an extreme framework for reconsidering the paradigms of care, empathy and kinship outside human exceptionalism. At a time when the world calls for new kinds of solidarity, mOther (ness) takes the conversation from abstracted ethics to embodied, molecular practice, providing ways to work toward actualizing resilient multi-species futures.
mOther\ness IN CONTEMPORARY ART
1. Ana Mendieta, «Silueta» series (1970s)
Motherhood as merging with the «Other» — the earth. In her performances and photographs, Mendieta literally inscribed the imprint of her body (a silhouette) into landscapes of earth, sand, and grass, often using blood or fire. This is an act of dissolving the boundaries between the mother-body and the earth-matter. Her work is not about caring for the land from the outside, but about becoming one organism with it, where the body is an extension of the soil and vice versa. This is an archetypal, almost primal form of mOther (ness), where the artist becomes «mOther Earth» through a ritual of fusion.
2. Patricia Piccinini, sculpture series
Compassionate service to the radically «other»: Piccinini produces hyperrealistic sculptures of hybrid beings that merge human, animal and biotechnological. Works such as The Young Family (in which a monstrous brood suckles on its mother creature) make the central struggle of mOther (ness) visible. They elicit a visceral response and challenge the viewer to face a crucial question: Can we experience empathy, intimacy and care for something fundamentally strange, even grotesque? Her art is a direct, visual test of our capacity to extend mOthering beyond the boundaries of the known and the aesthetically pleasing.
«The Young Family» (2002)
«Comforter» (2010) and «Litter» (2010)
3. Eduardo Kac, «GFP Bunny» (2000)
MOthering a genetically engineered «other»: Kac’s project involved the creation of a transgenic rabbit, Alba, who glowed green under blue light due to a jellyfish gene. The crucial, yet often overlooked, part of the project was Kac’s declared intention to bring Alba home and care for her as a family member. This moves the work beyond mere bio-art spectacle into the realm of ethical kinship. It poses the radical question of mOther (ness) in the age of biotechnology: are we capable of extending unconditional care and responsibility to a life form we have literally designed and brought into being? It’s a molecular-level pact of care for a created «other.»
4. Film «Titane» (Julia Ducournau, 2021)
Constructing parenthood through radical, violent care. The film’s protagonist, Alexia, forms a monstrous, chosen family with a firefighter who insists she is his long-lost son. This relationship, built on lies and violence, evolves into a bizarre, pure form of care beyond biology. The culmination — Alexia lactating motor oil to nourish her hybrid, mechanical-human «child» — is a direct cinematic parallel to Smrekar’s act. It shows mOther (ness) as a transgressive, painful, yet transformative performance that creates kinship where none should exist, breaking all norms of body, gender, and species.
Donna Haraway and Her Dog Companions (in life and texts)
The theory and daily practice of «significant otherness». Philosopher and biologist Donna Haraway is not just a key theoretical source for mOther (ness) (with her concepts of symbiogenesis, companion species, and staying with the trouble), but also its practitioner. In her life and writing, she meticulously documents her relationships with her dogs, most notably her Australian Shepherd Cayenne. This is a serious, lifelong practice of «becoming-with» — a mutual training in attention, response, and care. Haraway calls this «significant otherness», a relationship where both parties are permanently changed by the encounter. This is the essence of daily mOthering: a conscious, ethical, and demanding labor of building kinship (making kin) outside the boundaries of species, a micro-political act that shapes both the human and the non-human partner. It’s mOther (ness) as a shared, ongoing worldly practice, not a one-sided gesture of care.
CONCLUSION
The thinking through of the concept of mOther (ness) reveals it as a dynamic, ethical verb: a radical mode of becoming-with the world. From Maja Smrekar’s lactating body to the hybrid families of cinema and bio-art, this expanded notion of care shatters the boundaries of the biological, the human, and the familiar.
Eventually, the practice of mOther (ness) will be nothing short of a survival tool on a damaged planet. A molecular manifesto, it reimagines empathy as a practice honed, kinship as a conscious choice, and solidarity as a multispecies imperative. In a world sundered by separation, here is a simple, seismic alternative: to become portals of care, consciously cultivating the web of connections with all forms of «otherness» — earth, animal, hybrid, stranger. And so, the invitation is urgent yet hopeful: to breastfeed the future into being.
