Anne is a middle-class mother from Norway – the best country in the world to be a mother, according to the aid agency Save the Children. Nevertheless, her life hasn’t been free from tragedy; she lost one child in labor, despite access to the very best maternal health care.
All Day
Alexia Nye Jackson
USA
How do we value human time? What is lost when mothers have to sacrifice either earnings or time spent with their children? Why doesn’t the U.S. enact policies that reflect the true value of mother’s work? Alexia Nye Jackson’s film “All Day” illuminates the economic value of mothers’ work, and calls for policy changes in the U.S. that would allow mothers to balance both work and mothering.
All Day is a 17 minute black and white film of a mother’s hands at task, seen in over three hundred varied 1-3 second images, streaming together in a continuous myriad of gestures and sounds we all call “mothering.” But the true depth of this film is revealed in the narrative voices of children as they relate some of the alarming economic statistics on the state of families in the U.S., compelling statements and quotes, and a short-list of familial policies our competing nations have long adopted. In this era of full-time working parents and single full-time working mothers struggling to balance “being there” for kids with earning a living, this is the visual aid for our policy makers as well as each registered voter.
I made this film as a way of answering the inane question of yesteryear that still looms far and wide today: "What did you do all day?" (Or, for most mothers, what did you do all night on your "second shift" after your day in the paid workplace?) I wanted to convey the urgency of the presence of a primary caregiver in a child's life--her ability to create human capital and "the good citizen"--and address the need for family friendly policies in the US in an effort to effect life/work balance for mothers of some kind.
About The Artist
Alexia Nye Jackson is a visual artist, writer, comedienne and passionate mother of three. She is the creative visionairy behind the multi-media documentary exhibit, “MOTHER THE JOB: Building Human Capital, Building Human Beings”. Her inspiration comes from her experience as an educated mother of three, her love of life, as well as growing up with her two sisters in a single-parent household headed by her mother, a PhD, professor and published poet. Alexia began developing the idea for MOTHER: THE JOB in 2002 while folding socks in her laundry room. MOTHER: THE JOB is currently installed at the first-ever Museum of Motherhood (M.O.M.) in New York City, USA. It was chosen as the focal exhibit for the launch of the museum in September, 2011 and has been shown at venues such as The Oakland Museum in California, The Women’s Media Center in New York City and York University in Toronto. Alexia has collaborated with Joan Blades of MoveOn.org/MomsRising.org and best-selling author and economist, Ann Crittenden, who has endorsed the exhibit’s film, All Day. The main theme present in Alexia's message-driven documentary is the economic value of mothers' work and its byproduct – human capabilities or human capital. Her work embraces all mothers - in the home and out of it – and sends a message to policy makers at large, as well as the corporate culture and those in the home, regarding the need for work/life balance choices so mothers and their families can thrive. Her voice has been found on many mother specific online communities, on the radio, as well as in print in the inspirational book, Life Messages for Moms, by best-selling author, Josephine Carlton.
Related Content
 |
 A working mother expresses the indignity of being forced to pump breastmilk on the floor of the public bathroom while on the job. |
 Catherine Haley Epstein’s paintings touch on the many ways women’s identities shift and change when they become mothers. |
 This documentary follows a family in Hungary where the father stays home as caretaker and the mother is the primary breadwinner. |
