MOTHERHOOD DRAWINGS & BODY PRINTS

2013-cur.

Today, children are flooded with images and stories of gender violence and female objectification.  Alternative, artistic perspectives of the female that challenge such perspectives are refreshing and necessary.  Life is fragile; as are (my) children; and so, in recognizing my privilege and luck to having healthy children, I celebrate and express, with the motherly tug-and-pull of frustrations and elations, the bold maternal and female form and spirit—instead of being afraid or denying that this can save us.
My body prints abstract the female form to see it fresh, conceptually stunning, maybe sensual or sexual, but not ascribing to the cultural-ideals. I use quotes in my body prints from my own musings and from famous and infamous friend-artists and mother-artists, and some who have questioned my way of mothering and artistry. By writing those down and printing over them, it is my way of processing the experience, to figure my way amongst it all. The expressive act hurts no one, and can only do well by sharing, if even one person relates.
This series builds on my first series of body prints (Voice), created in response to viewers' reaction of my original body prints. I found people focused on my role as mother and my (nude) work impacted my children, rather than the work itself. After research of course I found this wasn’t atypical (Sally Mann, Alice Neel for just two examples of mother artists getting critiqued for their subject matter while being a mother), and built this series around famous and infamous artists and nonartists speaking of the relationship of motherhood to artistry and vice versa; to allow myself a physical and thoughtful process and visualize this.
My drawings of my sometimes pregnant nude form using children’s media bring the sheltered or hyper-sexualized form to an appreciated, non-scrutinized position. By incorporating my children’s craft and imagery, we connect through the process and outcome.   The works reveal the inseparability of motherhood and artistry; and dichotomies of body image, sexuality and gender identity as it plays a role in motherhood and youth. At the simplest, they are playful acts of love–for childhood, motherhood and the female body.
Along with my body prints are various series of intimate photographs and short video of my process--complete with toys and the domestic environment in which I work. I would like to continue these self portraits and videos. I also have a collaborative short film created in 2010 with two other mother-artists about the multi-faceted roles.
I have around 20 body prints and 50 drawings, always making more.