Mixed in with the clothesline hung with drying underwear, photographs of a woman covered in jelly or with her head jammed in a container of Cheerios, is a washing machine named Mother. That gives you a general idea of the latest solo exhibition from Lee Materazzi called “Feels Like Home” at the Spinello Gallery.

Domestic life is inevitably entwined with mother-daughter relationships. Am I as good a cook, a cleaner, a person? Here, that relationship is explored with humor but also with an underlining current of constant struggle. The photographic images incorporate everyday, normally non-threatening materials such as jelly, detergent, and chicken soup to downright oppressive effect.

In trying to unwrap some paper towels, the artist (they are self-portraits) herself becomes trapped, her head encased in the paper. Not surprisingly, it is the head that suffers the most violence in the series — it gets stuck in the soup bowl, in the cereal container, the trash can, and is doused with laundry detergent.

The acts of cooking and cleaning — there couldn’t be anything more tied to mom, and to simply being tied. In the images in the show, “Materazzi captures her mother; likewise, the artist is captured by her mother,” according to the description. The artist is physically overcome by her domestic duties, yet she soldiers on.

This is the second solo outing here from Materazzi, and as with her previous works, they are lovely and compelling pieces to look at, not dark despite her literal loss of face in the C-prints.

Opening night happened to be the day before Mothers’ Day, appropriately enough, so there was added weight to the artist’s call to bring your dirty laundry on over to the gallery: “Mother,” the on-site installation washing machine, would be up and running, ready for the cleanse. If you dared.

“Feels Like Home” through June 5 at the Spinello Gallery, 155 NE 38th Street, No. 101, Design District; 786-271-4223; [email protected].