Each of my daughters was born in traumatic circumstances. My first was born 6 weeks premature and my second was born in mid-2020 during the height of the first Covid wave. Each time after giving birth, I experienced postpartum depression. My body had done incredible feats, but it now felt foreign. Over time I realized I needed to regain a balance between caring for my daughters and caring for my mental health. My art practice has become an outlet to cope with, at times, crippling anxiety. It is a meditation on what it means to be an artist, a parent, a woman.
Category Archives: health
Things In-between
Of course, one day there will be a museum collection about the pandemic. In fact, they’re working on it right now, collecting the pieces of a crisis as it unfolds in the hope that somehow it won’t get lost in the movement of time, that one day we will see ourselves or have ourselves be seen.
MAMA Issue 50: Mothers and trees. Roots and families. Art and love.
Mother of the Forest is one of the tallest trees in Santa Cruz Park. A symbolic womb at her core forms an 8 x 13 foot room, or a hobbit hole, or a sacred space — depending on your perspective. Trees are a testimony to patience and resilience. They offer shelter, contribute to healthy ecosystems, and fight climate change. Redwoods protect and support each other as well as other sapling growth by creating family circles sprouted from the roots of a parent tree. These families may or may not be genetically related. These lessons in cooperation can be a metaphor for humanity in its current fragmented state.
Bitch In The House – Has Anything Changed?
Perhaps social support does improve women’s feelings about motherhood. However, recent articles, during the time of COVID, for example, would indicate that the fundamental challenges for women who are mothers remain fundamentally unchanged. A recent New York Times article, This Is a Primal Scream, depicts the frustration of America’s maternal mental health crisis, as does this article by Kimberly Seals Allers in the Washington Post titled Female Rage is All The Rage (2018). Cathi Hanauer and friends have an updated version of this book called The Bitch Is Back: Getting Older, Wiser, and Happier. The original Bitch in the House is part of MOM’s library.