Based on the painting by an unknown artist Gabrielle d’Estrées et une de ses soeurs (c.1575-1600), Madruga deals with complex feelings around maternity. It’s an attempt to represent the emotional complexity of seeings someone important in your life become a mother, because, socially, the role of “mother” is more important than any other identity or relationship- who once was your friend or sister is now, above anything, mother. A form of mourning occurs for that person you once knew, an irreversible redefining of that relationship.