My mother has always created beauty, regardless of where we have lived; while camped in a tent on a building site she would wrap me in beautiful handmade quilts and pick fresh flowers for our outdoor table.
“I am in the discipline of making beauty; Beauty is my defiance of all that is ugly.”
My mother is in the business of beauty, portals, and stories.
“I’m not interested in truth, the truth is none of my business
My business is to tell a story
And that story is told between me and the model
I give the model space to tell that story”
In working with my mother, both in front and behind the camera, I have witnessed her create portals for her models to walk through, allowing them the space to express previously hidden sides of themselves. Part of the female gaze, which is so prominent within her work, is the allowance for women to show up authentically as who they want to be. These portals of allowance are captured within these images.
“The Model is a huge part of the narrative, I direct superficially, the model is the muse,
I feel I don’t want to explain myself to the models, I feel embarrassed to explain too much of what I am doing”
Like dreams, the familiar, yet disconcerting beauty of these image’s have a lasting impression.
To discuss the production and technical side of my mother’s work would prove quite boring, and would truly defeat the pursuit of mysticism and magic, her work speaks for itself in that regard. Professional and beautiful.
‘‘I shot a lot in my night garden, literally in the almost dark. Maybe with a flashlight or something.’’
To discuss the deeper themes, that is more interesting to me.
In watching my mother work, both as an artist, creator, and mother, I have observed the power of the feminine; ironically something she claims to not consciously think about. That is the beauty of my mother, she is purely who she is, without needing to think about it.
Feminine iconography has always played an important role in the discourse of art, a reflection of how women are valued, and what we are valued for. My mother takes this discourse and explores it through a raw feminine gaze with these works; from references to the Virgin Mary, the broken hearted woman, to the angry daughter and many more.
She plays with motifs of fire, masks and red ribbon repeatedly throughout this series of work.
I asked her about this, knowing that often my mother has an end vision or goal in all that she does, I hear her pause on the phone, pondering; “I can’t give you a damn good reason ’’
She claims to have been working instinctively with this body, building off of what the models bring forward, and tapping into something that is deeper than intellectual reasoning. The subconscious desire to create, and intuitively it just flows through.
She described the conceptualization of these image’s as “Leaking in from the ether”, explaining that the images happen quickly and intuitively.
‘‘I am exploring themes of strength and feminine rage. Beauty is being celebrated in a slightly unsettling way.’’
In working with her my whole life I have learned the value of the feminine, and how it transcends the traditional and contemporary definitions. Modelling with her from childhood to adulthood has given me the space to explore the definition of what being a woman means. To witness the fierce protection of a mother, the anger of a daughter, the love of a woman, and joy of a girl. My mother does not shy away from the crones, the sexuality, the anger and danger of women, nor does she ignore the softness, the beauty, and gentle nature, but rather gives them both space to exist and breathe.
“I am not afraid of the dark but I am definitely in the pursuit of beauty”
Almost Dreams is showing at the Hornby Island Community Hall
March 29 7-10 pm and March 30 12-5pm