Dolors project: art-based polyethnography evoking contemporary rural mothering through photography, dance and chapbooks

Abstract

This collaborative ethnography details the Dolors project, a transdisciplinary exploration that evokes rural mothering in Copons, Catalonia, through an immersive photographic process. The project culminated in an exhibition at an international festival, presenting a medley of family portraits, field notes, personal narratives and scenic elements. Central to the exhibition were eight chosen portraits of local mothers, paying tribute to Dolors Farrés, a revered ‘meta-mother’ figure in the community, whose wider social and metaphorical significance was progressively uncovered by the four co-authors. The exhibition's opening day featured an interpretive dance, transforming the photographic experience into a multimodal exploration. Post-exhibition, the visitor responses collected in chapbooks were transformed into a large-format photography book, and served as qualitative data for this study. Our creative, multi-voiced and evocative approach to ethnography seeks to shed light on a rich array of individual and collective perspectives around mothering within a rural setting.