“You are not wonderful just because you are a Mother.”

I’m part of the amazing exhibition: “You are not wonderful just because you are a Mother,” an exhibition curated by Qiana Mestrich.

When I read the call to artists, I immediately knew what to create. I literally prepared my image references and went to work after Little was asleep.

This colored pencil drawing on watercolor paper is a self-portrait as a new mother. The selfie I worked from was taken when my daughter was around 7-months old.

It’s entitled, “Self-Portrait at 7 Months:”

The work really varies across media and message in the exhibition. The Artist|Mother Podcast is featuring lots of artists right now from this exhibition, which will include some artist talks. You can participate in this by joining or checking out their Instagram here.

I’m going to go on my Instagram Live (@carriebrummerart) Tuesday Jan 19 at 8 pm CST/9 pm EST to share the work live, and talk more about the process, including sharing planning images I’ve not shared anywhere before.

Here is my statement about the work:

I want people to consider the way they look at women, talk about women, and rethink their definitions and assumptions about people. I want us to engage in dialogue about how we allow ourselves to be run by internalized definitions of what it means to be female and our own role in perpetuating those systems. Thus, I create portraits of women to investigate the social norms and expectations we cultivate and support around gender.

This colored pencil drawing on watercolor paper is a self-portrait as a new mother. The selfie I worked from was taken when my daughter was around 7-months old. 

I listened to a larger dialogue about the state of affairs in the United States when it occurred to me women can be puppets to larger systems. I realized how much I’ve felt like a puppet.

I am a puppet to a system that does nothing but make me feel less than wonderful for not somehow building a thriving business while managing exclusive childcare during a pandemic where our closest family or friend is a 2-day drive.

I am a puppet to a system that does nothing but make me feel less than wonderful for crying when I’m sad, frustrated, angry, or really, really tired.

I am a puppet to a system that does nothing but make me feel less than wonderful for not making enough art, money, or perfect family time.

There is a shifting of identity that naturally comes when one becomes a mother, but when we talk about women having any kind of difficulty with parenthood, there is silent and unspoken judgement. This judgement perpetuates the system, our puppeteer.

I hope by sharing this work other people navigating the less than pretty part of a shifting identity feel space and permission to be where they are and maybe together we can cut the strings driving these unrealistic cultural norms.
I hope to see you in our live artist conversation over on Instagram, if not, there will be a replay on Instagram of this conversation. I’ll embed it here as well once it is finished.

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Warmly,

Carrie