Feminist art, mother artist, podcast, visual art, women artists

Woman UP! Podcast Episode 9 - Dr.Lena Simic

By amy on

15th September 2019

- Feminist art, mother artist, podcast, visual art, women artists

Lena Simic is a performance practitioner, scholar and pedagogue, born in Dubrovnik, Croatia, living in Liverpool. A co-organizer of The Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home and Reader in Drama at Edge Hill University, UK.

Lena is an artist/scholar who is engaged in researching maternal performance, children in performance, critical arts practice and art activism.

Lena’s recent ‘Arts Projects and Performances’ include Manifesto for Maternal Performance (Art) 2016! (with Emily Underwood-Lee, SC Gallery, Zagreb; Royal College of Art, London, Astrid Noack’s Atelier, Copenhagen, 2017); Who wants another baby? video film (Centre for Culture in Novi Zagreb, 2017) and 42 Among the Gormleys (2016) maternal performance for her 42nd birthday at Crosby beach.

https://lenasimic.art/

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Feminist art, mother artist, podcast, visual art, women artists

Woman UP! Podcast Episode 8 - Amanthi Harris

By amy on

31st August 2019

- Feminist art, mother artist, podcast, visual art, women artists

Amanthi Harris was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in London. She studied Fine Art at Central St Martins and has degrees in Law and Chemistry from Bristol University. Her novel BEAUTIFUL PLACE is published by Salt (September 2019). LANTERN EVENING, a novella, won the Gatehouse Press New Fictions Prize 2016 and is published by Gatehouse Press (2017). Her short stories have been published by Serpent’s Tail and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as Afternoon Readings. She also runs STORYHUG an ACE-funded storytelling, art and writing project.

Website: www.amanthiharris.com

https://www.saltpublishing.com/products/beautiful-place-9781784631932

http://www.gatehousepress.com/shop/new-fictions/lantern-evening/

To view a subtitled version follow this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUxegjjrri8&feature=youtu.be

keep reading

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Feminist art, mother artist, podcast, visual art, women artists

Woman UP! Podcast Episode 7 - Su Richardson

By amy on

31st July 2019

- Feminist art, mother artist, podcast, visual art, women artists

In this 7th episode we talk to a pioneer of feminist art in 1970 - Su Richardson. Known for her involvement in the Postal Art Event (which went by several names) and her soft sculptural work Burnt Breakfast (1975.) Su chats to us about her home-made objects, domesticity, femininity and about her decision to leave the art business to be involved with a punk rock band( http://www.gigslutz.co.uk/interview-terry-gerry/).

For subtitled version please follow this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVi2rv1GbW4

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Feminist art, mother artist, podcast, visual art, women artists

Woman UP! Podcast Episode 6 - Rose Gibbs

By amy on

30th June 2019

- Feminist art, mother artist, podcast, visual art, women artists

This month on Woman up! we talk to Rose Gibbs. Rose is a feminist artist and writer who regularly initiates and contributes to talks, symposiums and discussions, including Who’s Holding the Baby? at Tate Britain. She is co-founder of a number of collectives and collaborative projects and has worked with The East London Fawcett Group and Hackney’s SERA group. She has curated exhibitions and shown work at the ICA, The Showroom amongst others art spaces. She is particularly interested in the gender implications of care work, she runs a small community organisation in the estate where she lives and is the arts correspondent for the Women’s Budget Group.

”Taking Up Space: Women Only Shows – A Discussion (full length)”

https://vimeo.com/118243881
To view subtitles please press play below
https://youtu.be/c1lNoVOBuBY

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Feminist art, podcast, visual art, women artists

Woman UP! Podcast Episode 5 - Iyato Dun

By amy on

31st May 2019

- Feminist art, podcast, visual art, women artists

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This week on Woman up! we talk to Iyato Dun. Iyato describes herself as a mum, a citizen scientist, a philosopher, an activist and a writer.

With her we are discussing topics such as racialized motherhood and diasporic motherhood.

Iyato will be launching her blog in August.

To view a subtitled version please follow this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRhq1jcovPs

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Feminist art, podcast, visual art, women artists

Woman UP! Podcast Episode 4 - Laura Godfrey-Isaacs

By amy on

29th April 2019

- Feminist art, podcast, visual art, women artists

This instalment features Laura Godfrey-Isaacs Artist, Midwife and creator of the Maternal Journal, an award winning project exploring the benefits of creative journalling within the realm of maternity care.

‘Many times, I’d sit in a lecture and I’d think there were so many amazing artists making work about this. Why aren’t we looking at this? Why aren’t we referencing this? And realising that I had these things in my head and many others didn’t obviously because I’d had an arts background!’
Laura Godfrey-Isaacs 2019

Laura Godfrey-Isaacs is an artist, midwife and birth activist. She spent over twenty years in the arts, as a visual arts, academic and creative producer. In 2016 she graduated as a midwife from King’s College London, and now works as a community midwife at King’s College Hospital, London.

She aspires to bring her knowledge and experience in the arts and the cultural industries, together with midwifery, to bring fresh interdisciplinary perspectives to inform education, practice, policy and research.

She regularly presents at conferences, and creates interdisciplinary projects and campaigns that combine midwifery, art & culture. She is currently Research Associate with The Digital Institute for Early Parenthood, Ambassador for Procreate Project, co-lead of the Health policy committee at The Women’s Equality Party, Board Advisor of The International Forum for Wellbeing in Pregnancy, and member of the Thought Leadership Group at the NMC reviewing midwifery education standards.

Blog: https://www.all4maternity.com/caring/blog/birth-art-culture/
Twitter: @godfrey_isaacs

To view a subtitled version please follow this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7HufYHOAUI

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Event, exhibition, Feminist art, Gallery, maternal, mother artist, visual art, women artists

The M Word - A Visual Representation of the maternal experience

By amy on

13th April 2019

- Event, exhibition, Feminist art, Gallery, maternal, mother artist, visual art, women artists

Image credit – From the left, Leni Dothan, Double, 183x115x45cm, wooden structure, 2015. Sophia Marinkov Jones monoprint, dimension variable, 2016. Megan Wynne, Motivation, video still 2016, 4:35.

The “The M Word” exhibition is a visual and material representation of concepts that revolve around the maternal experience,, motherhood and maternal mental health.

Although her selection of artists comes from far and wide, the narrative doesn’t change. All the works actively challenge society’s attitudes to maternal subjectivity. All the works position the mother in the foreground and clearly state that they shouldn’t be afraid of being seen or being judged. They impart a strong sense of the horror, humor, love and hate, and express those ambivalent feelings that are often experienced but not really acknowledged or accepted, during motherhood.

With motherhood, ‘Love is, of course, an easier affect to acknowledge than hate: it is taken for granted in a Mother. Love’s absence is acknowledged to be a disaster. Hate, however, is frequently denied.’ (Torn in Two – The Experience of Maternal Ambivalence, Rozsika Parker, 1995). Sometimes mothers don’t feel comfortable to express these negative emotions for fear of being judged as cold, uncaring, not the perfect mother. The artists in this exhibition mark the emotional turmoil through their personal journeys and their experience of motherhood.

The maternal body is also very present throughout the exhibition taking a critical approach via contemporary meanings, against persisting taboos, showing its mutable characteristics and claiming its indisputable involvement in the politics of its representation. The artists share with us their own pain, isolation, fear and love, but first and foremost they share their resistance.

Exhibiting artists
Paula Chambers , Leni Dothan, Tracey Kershaw, Sophia Marinkov Jones, Leanne Pearce, Megan Wynne, Dawn Yow, Katy Howe and the Founding Mothers group of the Maternal Journal.

During the exhibition we will also be launching The M Wall.

From the left Helen Sargeant, screenprint on paper, 2019. Katy Howe Oh Mother, photography. Rachel Fallon – Apron no 1. To Ensure Hope is our Role; Digital print on Hahnemühle paper,2018.

The M Wall is a new DAW initiative that will bring together a collection of works dedicated to the subject of perinatal mental health and its interconnection with Art. The works included in the collection will not only be a visual depiction of the artists’ struggles, ways of coping and coming to terms with their personal maternal experiences, they will also raise the question of how art can support, reinforce and promote good mental health.

The aim of this collection will be to tour across the country in a variety of exhibition venues, conferences and seminars, with the intention of raising awareness of and opening up a conversation around the subjects and issues depicted within the works. It will form the basis for a growing collection and going forward, artists will be able to apply to submit works into this collection.

The M wall artists are – Helen Sargeant, Rachel Fallon, Caroline Kelley, Lauren Mclaughlin, Laura Fooks, Katy Howe, Amy Dignam, Public Takeover, Debbie Lee, Tracey Kershaw.

Workshops and events calendar:

*Wednesday 1st*	Gallery open 12 to 5 pm
*Thursday 2nd*	Opening Night 6-8pm
*Friday 3rd*	The Altrnative Birth plan -Visualising a positive birth – Workshop led by Womb Doula Justine Evans and Artist and Curator *Amy Dignam* 12:30 – 2 pm Birth visualisation absorbing positive birth imagery and exercise to nurture a powerful mental ‘blueprint’.
*Saturday 4th*	Artists’ Talk 2:30
*Sunday 5th*	Family Workshop 2 – 3:30pm
*Monday 6th*	*Gallery Closed*
*Tuesday 7th*	*Gallery Closed*
*Wednesday 8th*	Bring your work – All day 12 to 5pm
*Thursday 9th*	Clothing Exchange Event (Led by *Artist Susan Merrick*) 12- 5pm Using donated clothing from the areas in which she works and lives, the artist sets up a space of discussion and exchange.
*Friday 10th*	Mindful Crochet (Led by Artist *Barbara Touati-Evans*) 1 -3 pm Crochet as a way of encouraging people to experience and offers a chance to meditate in a way that many people find easier than sitting still in a room and focusing on the breath.
*Saturday 11th*	Introduction to Maternal Journal (Led by Artist, Midwife and Birth Activist *Laura Godfrey-Isaacs*) 12:30 – 2:30 pm How creative journaling can support pregnant women and new mothers.
*Sunday 12th*	Last exhibition day