Motherhood can be full of sweet, memorable moments, but it also comes with plenty of exhaustion, awkward encounters, household chaos, questionable decisions, and days when hiding from everyone for five minutes sounds like a perfectly reasonable plan. Cartoonist Harlow Brooke turns that less-polished side of family life into the heart of her humorous series, “I Am Mama.” Brooke describes herself as a cartoonist and artist whose work revolves around “parenting, motherhood, being a woman, relationships, issues that matter to me... and probably also things that don't matter that much at all.” Her cartoons have also appeared in the UK-based “The New Cartoonist,” a publication dedicated to political and gag cartoons.
Brooke approaches parenting firmly from within the chaos rather than presenting a picture-perfect version of it. Her cartoons find humor in situations many parents will recognize immediately. Brooke also explores relationships, friendships, aging, being a woman, and the strange expectations that seem to arrive with adulthood. Many of her cartoons have the feeling of amusing little confessions of thoughts and observations people often have but might hesitate to say out loud, while staying deliberately visually simple.
We've gathered a selection of her cartoons, so scroll down to enjoy them, and let us know which were your favorites.
