HomePhotographyGeorges Pacheco: Amalthée Considering the Representation of Mother and Child Through Art History and Photography ‘The real theme of my work is neither breastfeeding nor religion but how art history represented the theme of mother and child,’ photographer, Georges Pacheco explained to us about his Madonna and child-esque series, Amalthée. Working mostly with women that he met on the streets, or who made contact via ads, Georges captured organic, and intimate moments of real mothers nursing their babies. The French creative has long concentrated on the process of representation in portraits throughout his explorative body of work. This project sees him hone in on archetypal images, delving into, and examining the image of the breastfeeding virgin, and its place in our collective consciousness. Georges told us more: The Plus: You focused on the beauty in the breastfeeding moment. How would you describe this beauty? Georges Pacheco: Here the beauty is that the baby is totally focused on the mother’s body and, at the same time, the mother has a look that is not focused on the child, but is looking inside of herself. Most mothers will naturally return to exchange glances with their child. For me, beyond the beauty of positions or gestures, I’m trying to create with each mother the depth of the internalized gaze. TP: What was the main challenge of this project? GP: The main challenge of this project was to create a beautiful and strong image with true mothers who are not models, knowing that the duration of a session was from a few seconds to a few minutes. The shooting sessions were very fast because the children are naked and very quickly they need to pee, etc. This means the end of the session. TP: Could you tell us a little about your current project? GP: Its called Metanoia: in the privacy of my studio, I photographed different people (from religious professionals to people who practice religion), praying or meditating. I captured the intimate moment of inner or with a divine entity. I seek to question in this series, the transformation process, or better, a transfiguration, during the act of prayer or spiritual reflection.
