EYE MAMA PROJECT shows the emotional landscape that was happening in everyone’s homes, all around the world, during the lockdown.
Based originally on Instagram, the Eye Mama Project is a community, and also a photo book, that invited photographer mammas worldwide to showcase their experiences of motherhood around the home and with their families in times of being stuck in the house during the lockdown in 2021. The collection showcases the dark and light of care. Their personal truths.



“What I’m looking for is truthful storytelling with very powerful photography that can make a difference and that can be funny and engaging and even fantastical. Because often the everyday can be fantastical and beauty can be found when you look close up at the details,” explains founder Karni Arieli.
“There’s also a dark undercurrent that goes through motherhood—there’s the duality of the joy of being a mother, but the fear and sleeplessness and anxiety that comes with motherhood that leaves you on edge. I think sharing these truths is really crucial for empowering mothers and carers.”
The founder and curator of the Eye Mama Project is Karni Arieli, BAFTA-nominated filmmaker/photographer and mother of two based in UK. Karni started Eye Mama Project during the pandemic in 2021, after seeing many powerful stories of motherhood appear in social feeds online. The images collected into one striking body of work, we now call the MAMA GAZE.
Discover the book here.