The Mothership

About this event

The Behnke Family Gallery at Cornish College of the Arts is proud to present our second exhibition of our 2026-2027 season featuring Mothership Photography Collective .

The Mothership is an exhibition by the eponymous collective, whose invitational membership is composed of 15 working mother artists, educators, and curators. The Mothership Photography Collective harnesses the cumulative power of mothers working in Seattle’s fine art photography space. Celebrating the visionary impact of motherhood on artmaking, the community also provides support for the specific challenges facing a mother artist. Since their inaugural formation of the group in October 2025, this show marks their first gallery exhibition as a collective.

The Mothership features diverse practices and photographic applications in a wide range of works by 13 member artists of the group. Piercing and threading through over 50 works in the exhibition is a sense of unyielding strength and devotion, a creative persistence, in the face of personal, familial, and societal demands.

Featuring work by:

Deb Achak

Annabel Clark

Anna Mia Davidson

Jenny Hansen Das

Melinda Hurst Frye

Adair Freeman Rutledge

Molly Landreth

Annie Marie Musselman

Anna Ream

Serrah Russell

Arielle Simmons

Mia Thompson

Jennifer Zwick

About the Collective:

Mission:

The Mothership Photography Collective harnesses the cumulative power of mothers working in the fine art photography space. Together we create more possibilities than as individual artists and curators, growing our work by deepening our relationships.

Statement:

The Mothership Photography Collective engages the cumulative power of mothers working in Seattle’s fine art photography space. By working together they create more possibilities than as individual artists and curators. Forming the community enhances visibility and provides support in facing the specific challenge of being a mother artist.

This Collective believes that motherhood is not a disqualifier to art making, as museum acquisitions historically suggest. They have wide ranging work, not necessarily pertaining to mothering, many with careers that began long before parenthood. They are curious to see the impact of the mother artist’s vision on our culture at-large; as they see its impact on their own work.

On View : November 13 - December 18, 2026

Exhibition Opening Reception: Friday, November 13, 2026, 4:30-7PM

Catalogue Release Reception and Panel Discussion: Friday, December 11, 2026, 4:30-7PM

Our work is supported, in part, by an award from 4Culture.