I just finished running an intensive 5-day workshop through Art Starts’ Programs Without Walls, and I’m excited to share the work that came out of it. Programs Without Walls is art program for mothers that gives women space for creative expression and provides childcare and arts programming for the children as well. It usually runs for 8-12 weeks at a time, but they were looking for an artist to run something during the five days of March break, for a couple of hours each morning. When I heard about the program, I thought it would be a perfect fit for Greetings From Motherland, and a great chance for me to meet some new women, get to know a new community, and try out some ideas.
Doing an entire project five days in a row is tough, as I always have a difficult time scaling back my ideas even in a tightened production timeline, but I really love running a series of workshops and having something collaborative to show for it at the end.
I decided to create a book of Motherland postcards, using them as a vehicle for the theme I wanted to explore: mothering, support and community. In some ways all of the work that comes out of the project is about support, but I was intrigued to ask more specific questions about it. There was also a term I’ve come across in my readings that has piqued my interest: “allomothers”. It’s a term adapted by anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy that refers to community members who help a mother rear her child. They may be female (older sisters, aunts, grandmothers) or male (brothers, lovers, and fathers). Blaffer Hrdy maintains that since humans have evolved as cooperative breeders, we have always needed help to raise our young. I love the idea of having an actual word to describe the help and support we all depend on in order to bring up our kids and stay sane, whether that help is through family members, friends, or outside child care providers like nannies and day care providers.
The group met in the Vila Gaspar housing complex, which is on Eglington and Caledonia in the York municipality. While our kids played and painted, we began the week by drawing questions about the topic and writing postcards in response. Where and from whom do you draw the most supporting caring for your children? In what areas do you wish you had more support in your mothering? What are your loneliest times as a mother? When do you feel most supported or happiest as a mother? How often do you get to take a break from your mothering responsibilities? How do you make this happen?
As the women shared their stories in a number of different languages, the discussion also evolved into a practical exchange of inexpensive and free resources for support in the community. It was a reminder to me that Greetings From Motherland not only can serve as a vehicle to make work about our experiences, but as a practical support system in and of itself.
The next day we focused on making stamps for the postcards. It was an experiment for a new stamp series, in which I asked women to use pen and watercolor paint to create Motherland stamps inspired by the people they draw support from in their lives as mothers. We continued making stamps through the week, and augmented the work with portraits that I shot of the participants and their children that the women went on to use in collages for their books. On the last day we assembled the books, placing all of the women’s postcards together along with a composite of the portraits. Each woman added her own collage, and we signed each other’s books. I was exhausted (I had spent hours cutting the hundreds of pages the night before), but felt really happy. I’ve presented the work from Greetings from Motherland in Toronto a number of times this year, but it was great to start working with women here directly again. I’m excited to develop the idea more and take it around to different communities.
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