The bliss that accompanies the arrival of a child also brings another, often unspoken feeling: fear. The sudden responsibility for another life prompts a search for explanations for even the smallest changes in once-familiar daily routine. Over time, this duality becomes so all-encompassing that, like a needle drawing thread through fabric, it seems to stitch itself into everyday life. An intangible shadow of anxiety and doubt begins to drift across the surfaces of ordinary objects.

Yet when the objects depicted are removed from their familiar context, a wider perspective emerges: a mother's gaze tracing her child's growth, alongside a universal thread of human emotion. Small yet fundamental fragments of discovering the world, such as a crushed strawberry or a stream of breast milk, reveal the complex and often conflicting emotions of motherhood.

Even today, motherhood and womanhood remain surrounded by stereotypes and preconceived notions. Drawing on the enduring motif of the embroidering mother in Lithuanian folklore, the series incorporates hand-stitched elements sewn into an unconventional surface: paper. The dominant colours, white and red, also reflect our cultural memory, taking on an allegorical meaning rooted in Lithuanian folk traditions. In this way, symbols of cultural heritage that live within us are reinterpreted through a personal lens.

This photographic series is a form of collective testimony, created during the first twelve months of motherhood. It documents a time of profound existential vulnerability, shared with other women experiencing motherhood for the first time. They were there for one another, even on days when the only small pleasure left was a bun eaten outdoors, dusted with snow.