I am currently working on Lino print images adding to my growing body of work on visual representations of women throughout the world. Currently I have prints depicting women as goddesses, ‘monsters’, witches, helpers, creators and ‘crones’.
The Images I Wish I Didn’t Have to Carve
My latest image is of a grieving mother holding the tiny corpse of her infant. An horrific image. A scene I could never, ever have imagined having to draw or carve. When I was thinking about the different representations of women, the image of a mother was always going to be one which I wanted to produce in print form. I had no idea that it would be such a distressing image. So many of us feel helpless and distraught at the suffering being inflicted on innocent men, women and children. Consequently I felt an extreme sense of urgency drawing me to create this prints as an expression of that distress.
Why else would I create these prints?
My additional aim with printing these images is to add to the visual documentation of the crimes taking place against our brothers and sisters in Palestine. We have endless reels of footage and written documentation but I wanted to take a leaf out of Kathe Kollwitz’s book and document these atrocities using my art practice.
In creating this latest print I am exploring themes of voyeurism, cognitive dissonance , the maternal bond and grieving. I also created a similar print of a mother embracing her small child protectively. Perhaps shielding him from harms way. These specific images of mothers are to prompt contemplation on various ways in which motherhood is perceived. I want them to challenge the viewer to think about the cultural lens through which they may view motherhood.
Do we view scenes of horrific state violence in other parts of the world against children as acceptable because ‘ things have always been that way’? Does the Palestinian mother or father not love their child as much as we love ours here in our privileged lives in the western world? And how do we reconcile viewing such violence on a daily basis on our smart phones with our necessity to carry on living life on a daily basis? Can we?
An expanding project
My project on representations of women is growing arms and legs. The themes being explored are vast.
I will be explaining a little more of the concepts behind some of my other pieces over the coming months.
My hope is to one day exhibit them all together if I am fortunate enough to find a place to do that.
Thanks for reading.
Collette x