Not For Sale: Mother’s Non-Commercial Exhibition Lands in Shanghai
Mother has always proudly been an independent creative business. By not being beholden to a public company or shareholders, Mother says “we are free to make work we love with people we care about.”
To showcase this, Mother gives its creative community a chance to come together and celebrate the work they’ve developed outside of commercial interests. ‘Not For Sale’ is a 28-year retrospective exhibition of Mother’s personal projects – and as the title states, all exhibits are not for sale (at the exhibition).
Having opened Not For Sale back in 2018 at Old Central St Martins in London, this year the exhibition came to Shanghai, held on 11/11 – a significant commercial date in China that marks one of the biggest shopping events of the year. “Given the theme, we would say that was an obvious choice of date for the exhibition!" say Winson Woo and Wanshi Lu, partners and ECDs at Mother in Shanghai.
In this interview with LBB’s Sunna Coleman, Winson and Wanshi share insights from the exhibition, a selection of work and why independence underpins everything they do.
LBB> This year, Mother Shanghai holds its first Not For Sale exhibition to showcase Mother’s personal projects. Tell us about how Not For Sale started, what it means for the company and why it is showing in Shanghai, China.
Winson and Wanshi> This exhibition comprises a 28-year retrospective of Mother’s personal projects. It is a chance for the creative community to come together and celebrate the work we’ve developed outside of commercial interests. All exhibits are not for sale (at the exhibition).
Each exhibit is an expression about a problem or issue, told in the most engaging way possible, similar to how we solve commercial problems for our client partners. It takes on a range of topics from gay rights to breastfeeding in a fun, and sometimes provocative, way. Not For Sale is an exhibition to make the audience laugh, smile and think about the world around them.
Simply put, we believe this is the most effective way to introduce Mother in Shanghai to our Chinese partners, friends and clients. Since the exhibition is being held in China this time, the Shanghai team is in charge of planning and curating from start to finish.
LBB> What sort of work is being displayed?
WW> This exhibition is a collection of Mother's personal projects from the Mother Family in the UK, China and America. From 1998 to the present, we combed through Mother's extensive personal project archive, which spans decades and selected over thirty pieces that continue to elicit strong emotions to this day.
At Mother we have always used our creative powers as a force for good. That is why we made the work on display. They are often provocative and controversial. Mother is not afraid to take risks. We ask the same of our clients with their work, so we have to show we also live by that example.
LBB> Can you share some more details about some of the key pieces?
Winson and Wanshi> A selection includes:
(1) Free the Feed, 2017
Across the UK thousands of mothers feel watched and judged when breast feeding in public. Free the Feed was a celebration of every woman's right to decide how and where they feed their children, via a bouncy castle-sized inflatable breast on top of a building on Bethnal Green Road. 650 million views and 8.4 million #FreeTheFeed Twitter conversations later and it was clear that a lot of people had something to say about society's shaming attitude.
(2) The Most Successful Gift, 2024
It is customary in China to present iconic Chunghwa cigarettes as a token of congratulations. A thoughtful gesture, but problematic in that it implicitly encourages smoking more. To keep the tradition alive, Mother fired up the kiln and created replica ruby glass cartons — alternative congratulatory gifts designed to maintain the same social face value while also being far more lung-friendly because they are completely un-smokable.
(3) LullaBombs, 2023
LullaBombs is a child’s sleep machine that use real combat sounds and flashing effects to simulate how 449 million children must fall asleep every night. Made from a real deactivated landmine, each unit is painted in the colours of Yemen, Congo, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Central African Republic and Ukraine to symbolise ongoing hostilities in those countries. All proceeds from this project go to War Child to help children living with violence and armed conflict.
LBB> Why do you believe the best work can be done by remaining independent as Mother always has?
Winson and Wanshi> Mother has been fiercely independent for every single one of our 28 years. Not being beholden to a public company or shareholders means we are free to make work we love with people we care about. Our independence underpins everything we do – our work and our behaviour. It’s a rare thing in our industry and something we’re very proud of.
It means we can make decisions for the right reasons – the right decisions for our clients and for ourselves. We’re not beholden to network bottom lines or locked up solutions. We can bring the best partners together for the task at hand. We can tailor solutions for our clients. We can make brave, ambitious work with clients that share our independent mindedness.
And most importantly, we can live up to our mission to make our children proud – by making work we don’t hate, and trying to improve the world in ways both meaningful and marginal. We are only able to do this because we always have been, and always will be, independent.
