On view in the Alumni Gallery July 25 – September 12, 2026, Aimee Koran ’13 presents Maternal Order of Makers (M.O.M.), a speculative union and visual language that reframes caregiving, specifically motherhood, and creative labor as political, collective work. Presented as part of Radical Americana and aligned with Philadelphia’s 250th anniversary programming, the project situates maternal and feminized labor within the broader history of American radicalism, labor organizing and nation-building. Rooted in Philadelphia—the birthplace of American democracy and labor movements—M.O.M. draws from intergenerational histories of women’s work to imagine what it would mean if care (specifically motherhood) was formally recognized as labor. Philadelphia is often described as the birthplace of America, and Koran invites viewers to consider motherhood as the birthplace of all of us: the foundational labor upon which every social, political and economic system ultimately depends.
Visually, M.O.M. adopts the language of labor unions—patches, insignia, uniforms, banners and emblems—to assert solidarity, protection and collective force. These forms function as both historical reference and speculative proposal, inserting caregiving and reproductive labor into iconography traditionally reserved for industrial and masculine work. Central to the installation is an inflatable breast pump that references the visual language of strike inflatables and protest monuments commonly used in labor demonstrations. Transformed from an intimate caregiving device into a monumental public form, the breast pump becomes both absurd and confrontational: a symbol of bodily labor scaled to the visibility and urgency typically reserved for industrial labor disputes. By borrowing from the aesthetics of protest culture and labor organizing, the work positions maternal labor within histories of collective action and demands recognition for forms of work that have long been privatized and devalued.
As part of Philadelphia’s 250th anniversary, M.O.M. reframes patriotism through labor and care, proposing an alternative vision of American freedom rooted in interdependence. The project insists that care is labor, labor is political and that American history—and its future—cannot be separated from the work of mothers.
About the Artist
Aimee Koran is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Philadelphia, PA. She holds an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania and a BFA in Fine Arts with a minor in Textile Design from Moore College of Art & Design. Koran explores the topic of motherhood, focusing on the continuously shifting and complex binaries that shape the role. Her work has been shown around the globe in venues such as the Richard Saulton Gallery, London, UK; Mutter Museum, Philadelphia, PA; The Arlington Art Center, Arlington, VA; and completed residencies at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA; The Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY and Project for Empty Space, Newark, NJ. Her solo and group exhibitions have been featured in publications like The New York Times, Vogue, Whitewall, Artslant, Artnet News and A Woman's Thing. Koran's work was recently acquired for addition to the permanent contemporary collection at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
Image courtesy of the artist.
