MUMMY

Lisa Andrew, Carla Cescon, Beata Geyer, Jacqueline Millner, Elvis Richardson, Philipa Veitch

Curated by Philipa Veitch

Chrissie Cotter Gallery

September 22 – October 3  2004

 

Philipa Veitch, Maternal Instinct, coloured pencil on paper,1500mm x 1800mm, 2004

 

Philipa Veitch, Tough Love, approx 12m of handwoven yarn, french knitter, masking tape, pins, dimensions variable, 2004

 

The exhibition Mummy explored the radical shift in consciousness brought about by the experience of pregnancy, childbirth, and bringing up a child. Evolving out of a desire to somehow integrate the experience of motherhood with that of our art practice, Mummy took the form of a project aimed at investigating the emotional, physical and political aspects of the mother / child relationship.

Mummy investigated the altered state of reality that one enters when you become a mother, exploring the possibilities that unfold themselves when you literally “drop out” of society for a period of time to care for a child. At the same time, the exhibition attempted to investigate the young child’s modalities of awareness and dependance, the gradual accretion of experiences and skills that over the years allow the child to evolve his or her own abilities to perceive, interact with and influence the people and environment around them.

The project involved six artists and writers who are the mothers of children ranging in age from one to twelve years old, and developed in part out of a series of informal meetings prior to the exhibition that looked at each artists experience and views on motherhood, their observations of their child’s development, and the relevance or impact of these on their work as artists.

Evolving a process-based approach to the subject, the exhibition documented both the individual and collective responses to these discussions, incorporating sculpture, photography, drawing and film, as well as book comprising work from all six artists. In realising this project, the artists hoped to contribute to the current political debates swirling around the vexed issues of fertlity rates, the balance of work and childraising and so on, investigating in both a material and conceptual sense the potentially radical possibilities inherent in the mother / child relationship.

Philipa Veitch, August 2004