Artist Statement

In the months after my second child was born, my creative practice shifted to immediately gratifying and practical outlets like watercoloring with my toddler and drawing on my ipad. I digitally sketched photo after photo of my body breastfeeding and holding my baby skin to skin creating the almost suffocating effect of numerous infants clinging to the maternal body. Juxtaposing the graphite line drawings with the soft watercolor collages demonstrate the duality in motherhood: the warm tones and round maternal shapes evoke the tender euphoria versus the rough graphite portray the harsher realities of sleeplessness and resentment. By making collages I reconstruct my experiences and reveal new truths on the condition of caretaking. By superimposing the graphite and watercolor images, the maternal forms are no longer in tension but held together - supporting one another.

Maternal bodies instinctually carry out processes to birth and nurture our young. Claiming the animal in me means learning to trust my instincts in a society that overwhelms parents (particularly mothers) with constant messaging on the “right way”. My second birth was not the active pushing on all fours one I had imagined for myself, however I witnessed my inner power and strength as I sketched the lines of my soft forehead and outstretched arm. I desire to care and make space for the powerful yet fragile animal in me not only in the immediate postpartum period - but also in the years following birth as that tether and space between child and mother changes and grows.