"Mother, Other" is a Frankenstein sportscar comprised of damaged and discarded panels from a 2004 Holden Commodore, a 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer, and a 2023 BMW xDrive20i M Sport. Each tributes a legacy of engineering development and racing success, with manufacturers hailing from Australia, Japan and Germany respectively, referencing an automotive culture distinctively lacking women.
The identity of the car, the audience, and the feminine fluctuate between panels, narrating nocturnal scenes from a collective psyche that parallel the turbulent relationship between cars and femininity.
The Holden realises the masculine notion of cars as female by representing its identity literally. The selfie-taker echoes the shape of the panel while her rhinestones match the metallic paint and chrome badge.
The Mitsubishi door snapshots two passengers wearing painful, gaudy heels. The male-designed shoes reflect the long association between fashion and cars, while conveying a sense of vulnerability compounded by the passengers' bare legs and rigid posture. This reflects the feminine anxieties felt in and around cars, highlighting their lack of control.
By presenting the feminine as exterior to the BMW, the panel assumes a masculine identity, indicating a tumultuous history between the 'narrator' and the driver. Through this perspective, the audience engages in an act of revenge, inadvertently inflicting harm upon the absent masculine by vandalising his luxury car.
