Sacred clingfilm, treasured kitchenroll
I am starting to use all sorts of materials which I use in my everyday life as a mother and person in charge of a home! I had a revelation a while ago about the way my life seemed to be separated into different compartments...I would spend time at my studio and then feel I had to get into a different mindset to go and collect children from school and make their tea and clear up the general mess made from having a family.
I was forever switching from one to the other and one day it dawned on me that I could no longer do this. My work was not separate from my everyday life and both were important to me. My family is the most important part of my life and I love being a mother, I am passionate about it but I need to make art too, to be creative and use materials like paint, charcoal, paper, canvas.
I needed to bring the two much more closely together and make work about the life and roles I have and how I cope with all of this. I started to use materials which are things I use everyday, cereal packets, lists, cardboard, clingfilm.....I also started to make work about the things I do for my children, the notes I write to them and things we say to each other. The repetition of parenthood and living together as a family. This is sacred to me and I place huge value on the depth of these relationships. This developing series of works is a working out of this life, treating as sacred and important, the everyday stuff. Even dirt is a sign of life, a sign of the people I share my life with. I hated dirt and I hated having to clean it up but this work has helped me to value even this aspect of living with others whom I love.