Nana Mandl : never enough

In never enough, Nana Mandl presents a visually expansive and materially rich series of works that delves into the complexities of modern motherhood, digital culture, and self-representation. Through her intricate, multi-layered collages—composed of fabric, digitally printed textiles, embroidery, and drawing—Mandl invites us to explore what lies beneath the surface.

 

Central to Mandl’s work is her exploration of materials. Textiles, historically linked to female artistry, become a platform where contradictions and ambiguities play out. The fabric is both medium and metaphor for the societal pressures and personal identities that weave together in the experience of motherhood. Sourcing inspiration online and mining her digital archive, Mandl seeks images that resonate - through content, colour, silhouette or instinct. These are enlarged and simplified, printed and cut into large paper shapes, becoming patterns from which patterns are cut, forming a patchwork of texture and colour. This echoes the sensory overload of the digital world, where countless images and information constantly jostle for our attention. Mandl’s works play with the possibility of a further sensory exploration of an image, allowing the viewer to engage and contend with an image beyond a surface layer. Through this laborious, multi-step process, Mandl contrasts the instant consumption of digital images with careful craftsmanship and in slowing down the image-making process, she transforms the intangible into something material, questioning the surface, the ambiguity of representation, and the contradictions of selfhood.

 

Motherhood, filtered through the lens of selfie culture, is a central theme. Mandl draws inspiration from mirror selfies of mothers with their children—intimate, yet highly curated moments of self-presentation. These images challenge traditional depictions of motherhood, positioning women as independent, strong, and self-aware. The child can be understood as an accessory in these scenes, underscoring the focus on the mother's reflection and her control over how she presents herself. Perhaps this subverts the patriarchal and capitalistic ideal of motherhood as a form of self-sacrifice, revealing instead the complexity between visibility and invisibility, empowerment and objectification. Mandl critiques the idealised vision of motherhood projected by a patriarchal, capitalist society, revealing the unrealistic, yet culturally pervasive, image of the ‘perfect’ mother.

 

Another key element of Mandl’s work is text. Upon the surface of large scale works, letters are sewn which create a poetic dialogue with the visual elements of the figurative collages. Using rhythm, rhyme and double meaning, the text complicates the construction of meaning and context within the digital and the physical, the personal and the collective and the immediate and the profound.

 

Mandl’s works unravel how digital culture and technology shapes our understanding of ourselves and others. Evoking the ever-changing nature of online existence, where identity and representation are constantly redefined, never enough invites reflection on the contradictions and complexity of modern life, social roles and pressures. Operating as haptic invitations to see beyond the surface, they call attention to the sensory richness of their materiality along with the tension between touch and image in the digital era.