Contribution short abstract:

This work-in-progress is part of a broader PhD project, entitled Visual Ethnography of Housewife's everyday life in Slovenia that dwells into the lives of mothers in Slovenia (and some fathers), who made the decision to stay at home after or sometimes before having children.

Contribution long abstract:

This work-in-progress is part of a broader PhD project, entitled Visual Ethnography of Housewife's everyday life in Slovenia that dwells into the lives of mothers in Slovenia (and some fathers), who made the decision to stay at home after or sometimes before having children. In the research, I am interested in the transition from full-time employment to full-time motherhood through understanding housework and motherhood or parenthood as a way of life, through routines, rhythms, organisation of tasks, time structures, division of labor among family members, and the like.

The footage is following a Slovenian family with four children from the southeastern, rural region, where the mother, Mihaela, decided to stay at home and quit her job as a language teacher in primary school after the birth of her first daughter. The birth of her firstborn changed her life, partly because of the medical procedures she underwent after the birth, which she had imagined to be different (more natural), and partly because of her ideals of raising her children herself and not putting them in an institution (kindergarten, school). After her first birth, her ideas for the future changed, and she is homeschooling her children and training to be a doula (childbirth counselor and companion) as well as organising first women’s circles in the region. She is also a strong advocate of home births, which currently have a semi-legal status in Slovenia. Together with her husband Boštjan, Mihaela tries to live in harmony with nature, be more ecological (by using reusable diapers, homemade laundry detergent and the like), sustainable and self-sufficient (by producing her food and saplings). The documentation began in March 2021 after the covid lockdown when her partner Boštjan, who has a permanent job at an electrical company, took paternity leave and stayed home with her for one year until August 2021. Now he is back at work, so the video footage shows the everyday life and time when the whole family was together, and later the time when Mihaela was alone for most of the day. Filming lasted until the spring of 2022, with the possibility of further filming.

The video footage is roughly edited after each filming and includes video sequences from the spring of 2021 to the spring of 2022. Right now it is in the pre-production phase, meaning I am trying to outline a general narrative of the final product - the story of the film. This is where I would like to get feedback on options for editing the film's narrative. The general idea is to frame the project according to the seasons, i.e., shooting four or five sequences divided by seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter, spring) and showing different aspects of family life. At the end, I wanted to shoot a more traditional interview with the couple or the whole family to reflect on the process of filming and to hear their opinions on the subject (homeschooling, being at home and the like). So basically I would like to get feedback on the narrative structure of the film, ideas and ways to best edit this project as the video footage reveals different yet important aspects of family life (division of labor between family members, natural parenting ideals, homeschooling, authority, socialisation techniques, time management, sustainability and self-sufficiency, gender...).