Mothering

By Louise Tate

$9,500

"'Mothering' was painted before I began my journey into parenthood. The work juggles the loss of my own mother with the idea of continuing a matrilineal lineage through my own potential motherhood—something that I was considering at the time. Wearing items of clothing and jewellery that belonged to my mother, I figuratively stepped into her shoes to contemplate how I might experience the role that she had played in my life. Would it fill me up, or crack me open? Holding a fragile porcelain vase over my stomach, I considered what it would be like to hold the expanse of my stomach if it were filled with a baby. Would a child nourish me, or would I feel drained from the constant need to nourish another? I also found myself facing my own fears around motherhood and the gendered roles that persist in contemporary western society. What impact would a child have on my art practice and my career, on my time and my energy, and on my sense of self as an artist? Painting became a way for me to test these ideas before jumping in headfirst."