‘You Are Everything to Me’ offers an alternative, uncomfortable perspective on the experience of motherhood. The work invites contemplation of women who find themselves as prisoners of their maternal life, weighed down by the negation of their own well-being, their desires, and their identity. This project began in July 2022, when I heard the story of an Italian mother who left her 18-month-old daughter to die of starvation. She abandoned her child in her cot bed, washed, changed, and with a bottle of milk. Then, she left for six days to reconcile with her partner and try to have a future with him. This story deeply affected me; I felt horrified, a feeling that was enhanced by the language used in many newspaper headlines: ‘A 37-year-old single mother left her 18-month-old daughter to die of starvation for futile reasons. Nobody heard the little one crying.’ Subsequently this anonymous woman, almost unknown in her neighbourhood, was proclaimed a monster, the witch of an atrocious crime. There was extensive media coverage, debates and discussions; she became the subject of a spectacle moderated by priests, psychologists, and her own lawyers. Yet nobody had noticed her struggling or heard her, and the baby, crying for help. This story made me think about maternity from a different perspective, far from the poetic imagery and stereotypes we are raised on or that are imposed on us. I felt the urge to research this deeply disturbing crime and the rising number of maternal filicides. I sought to understand and try to identify with the life of that woman and with all those mothers who live through something so universally treasured and revered - motherhood - with extreme loneliness and despair. I have asked my daughter to performed for me in front of the camera and to re-evoke some of my own memories and difficult times as a mother: the moments of loneliness, isolation, the loss of self. In my work, I invite the viewers to hear all those mothers who are silently struggling to cope, mostly unseen by their family, communities and institutions. Mothers who find it difficult to ask for help, either out of shame or for fear of their own sentiments. In an era where just a handful of nations have taken concrete steps to implement supportive policies, I feel driven to raise awareness of, and provoke much-needed conversations about, these concealed and unsupported experiences so these important - if difficult - stories can be told.