Portraits that question the image of motherhood, composed in the manner of Western depictions of the Virgin and Child. The mothers Maki Umaba observes are not abstract ideals such as the wise or the merciful mother but individual women who live with contradiction and uncertainty. From Virgin and Child statues in museums to the memorial portraits of photography studios, images of mother and infant have long been presented as symbols of happiness, and idealised pictures, staged and repeated, have been imprinted on us without our noticing. Through portraits of women breastfeeding, the book asks whether the Virgin Mary really received the Annunciation as calmly as we imagine, and how women come to be seen as mothers under the expectations and gaze of society.