Text asArt/Art as Text network

As part of the mini Text course at Uni that runs alongside our studio practice I decided to merge the two together by using the text that expressed Kate's emotions and described her daily routine as she was pregnant and subsequently when baby Seth had been born. I used children's alphabet fridge magnets to project onto baby items.

Mother and baby hand and footprints.

 This piece of text is part of my friend Kate's pregnancy diary and another merged with an image of in the early stages of pregnancy. I then printed more onto baby items such as vests, baby-gros and muslin squares, then hung them up on a washing line in my studio. I washed some of them and some of the images began to fade, like they do overtime after the repetitive process of washing.

  I have been incorporating text into my work and have been inspired by the artist and feminist Mary Kelly. These pieces are part of Kelly’s 1978 project and Exhibition ‘Post-Partum Document’ which explore and analyse the mother and child relationship. She records the relationship and dialogue (through Lacanian diagrams) between her and her own child athrough his early development whilst she faces the challenges of juggling motherhood (pro-creative role) and her career as an artist (creative role) through the 60’s and 70’s Women’s Movement.  Mary Kelly records how emotional and physical motherhood can be. She works onto baby-related items which has influenced me. I  work in a slightly different way by recording the period of time before birth.

Mary Kelly's work.

One of the artists whom I have been inspired by is the artist and feminist Mary Kelly. This piece is called Ante Partum 1973, a video loop transferred from Super 8 film, black and white.

I have now been experimenting with printing onto the baby-related items belonging to Kate's baby as i feel this becomes more personal to her as a mother and to me, as an artist and her friend. We also had a mini exhibition in the Greestone gallery to give us a little idea and feedback from fellow students on how our work might look in the degree show.

Studio at University

This is an idea I have for my final degree show; to display the documentation of my friend's pregnancy journey in order on a washing line, perhaps in-keeping with the domestic side to motherhood or a mother-to-be.

Screenprints

I started by making screenprints from my photos of my friend who was pregnant. They started out black and white, overlapping images and then I moved into colour.  Some came out with part of the image missing due to lost ink or the screen blocking but i quite like the faded areas.

Since 2010 my art practice has been based around the theme of  the Mother & Child relationship. Inspiration has derived from various sources such as, in a historic context; the Virgin & Child iconography through to more informal and domestic images. Many artists and photographers have influenced me such as Raphael, Mary Cassatt, Alice Neel, Gerhard Richter, Sally Mann and Rineke Dijkstra.
I work in a variety of mediums that include photography, screen-printing, drawing and painting,