Multi-tasker Artist Mother

This article is written by artist Mee Jey. This piece has been published by quarterly art magazine ALL THE ART in the winter edition 2019. here is the link to read. page 17-18

here is the text if you want to read.

I have less time for self and my art works, I have less resources to spare for my art materials, I have less energy left for my professional commitments, but that does not make me any less an artist. It is about being an artist-mother. I am raising an aware, active and curious infant.

Being a student, an Assistant Instructor, community artist and pregnancy was all that I handled when I shifted to St. Louis from India. So, studying, teaching and creating art pieces left me with little time to think about anything including the aches and pains in my body. Walking around with a growing belly and creating interactive art pieces with & for autistic adult did not seem a daunting task for me. Sleeping with aching heels and back was difficult though. Working all day was not any different from other months, but my materials becme more child friendly. Regular paints and sprays, fume-causing resins and heavy lifts were being replaces by soft fibers, clay, colored pens and foam clays.

I would like to clarify that the pace of life didn’t slow down, it changed.Since my pregnancy, my artistic career has gone through a drastic metamorphosis. I started engaging with new set of ideas, developed a new technique of representation and created a completely new visual format with abstract figuration. All of it was shaped by my attempts to connect with a life growing inside me that I could not see. This experience without a form pushed my preference of forms from figural to abstraction.

Being an immigrant-first-time mother meant less resources to spare for my art nudged me towards using discards as art materials. Not having enough money to purchase expensive art materials and traveling expense became an opportunity for me to look around myself. It helped me to develop a new eye for materials and forms. I began collecting materials from dumpsters, trash-cans and people who were willing to give-away their unwanted fabric for my use.

With triple load of work, family time and studio time began to overlap to an extent that I breast-fed my child while coiling my fabric strips into ropes. My studio was not just the baby friendly, rather the piles of fabric began to be used as the baby bed and softer forms became baby toys.

The increased load of work caused more energy loss that was paired by breast-feeding. I began spending even more time in my studio trying to save the travel time and energy from home to studio. My studio eventually became our new open home. Colleagues gave my baby a walk around studio when they needed a break or when my baby needed to walk. The studios developed in an oasis where informal bonds were developing and my journey as a new mother in a new land was being facilitated without a formal effort.

While the time, resources and energy were being divided between my several important roles, my patience and endurance kept growing every day. This helped me focus better. I was in no haste to reach at any conclusion which inevitably shaped the way I processed idea and material. This has been a major evolution on my personal and professional chart.

Post-partem also brought in a phase of ‘dropping’ everything. Other than the baby, I was dropping everything. Combined by the curious acts of growing infant, accidents became more frequent. With no option of punishing myself over my ‘clumsy-clutch’ and baby’s playfulness that caused many ‘unplanned’ incidents in my studio, I incorporated all the accidents in my work. This brought an unforeseen freshness in my work. I became more flexible about visual and representational formatting. It has been a remarkable feat for me till now.

In retrospect, I am very thankful for suffering from Mummy Brain during and post-partem. It helped me tremendously in keeping my work going. I had a long spell of forgetfulness that was embarrassing and baffling, temporarily. I must admit I missed some very important meetings with very important people, but there was no loss on either side to regret. Over time I realized these physiological and cognitive limitations only help us focus on life-saving issues that , I guess includes only creating art and nursing the infant.

With every passing day I am getting better with time-management. I dare say I am also getting better at multi-tasking. While playing with my child brings me immense pleasure, I also solve some of my puzzles at this time. When the child is put to sleep, I say this proudly, my creative output reaches its maximum/best. It has not been an easy walk to this point where I have figured out a functional equilibrium between the parent and artist aspect of myself, but if definitely is an enriching experience.