Amelia Lemanis

My project interrogates the social media trend of the ‘trad-wife’ – the woman who presents herself online as the perfect traditional, Mormon, stay at home mother, whilst ironically monetising and filming this lifestyle. I am fascinated by the tradwife image’s hypocrisy and the façade of a perfect life – particularly because it is so antithetical to contemporary feminism, advocating not for choice, but that every woman should be a stay-at-home mother. I am passionate about exposing these expectations in my work – by using traditional symbols of wifehood, and distorting their contexts to something radically untraditional, morphing the restraints these expectations are usually cast in. I also explore conspiracies as they intertwine with conservatism. In particular, the health trend of drinking raw milk inspires me for its connection to the trad-wife - the wife and mother being designated as caretaker of her household's health.