M/other artist

I spent most of last night deep breathing in an effort to avert myself from the tendency to toss and turn.

Too many thoughts clouding the mind, jobs to do things to create, assignments to write.

Exhibition deadline looms- 100 works to finish by July 1st. Just to round it out I'm attempting to finish a masters (part time) and working almost full time. The M and skids need feeding but thankfully they are capable of doing washing and cleaning themselves in our non-traditional state of domestic bliss where washing occurs sporadically (or when we run out of clean stuff) and cleaning arises from the need to see the floor, bench top or table once a month on average. they would feed themselves but I like to maintain some skerrick of control. Did I mention I am pregnant? Ouch.

Mid cranial cringe and squeeze past midnight last night I decided i had a new take on the handbag (skin of the beast) works for this year. Interestingly enough the idea to manufacture a series of handbags crafted from self portraits was planned to echo the deconstruction of the image and perception of self over the nine months of pregnancy - idea conceived prior to becoming pregnant. We had no plans on adding to the family - not consciously at least.

Ironically now as I struggle to complete these portraits they depict a perspective i could never have attained previously - the sickness, the tiredness, the stress, the fear. All these seep through into the works in the most interesting way. The ultimate freedom comes from the knowledge that I will cut up these images to refashion together into a 'useful' object: A handbag.

I have been videoing friends and family about influential women who have inspired them as well as speaking on the role of the mother - or the 'ideal' mother in an attempt to create a manifesto of the ultimate woman. Last night I realised if I spliced the act of deconstruction - the slicing, dicing, stitching and turning of the artwork into craft in between these narratives it could resonate more powerfully my intention of crafting identity and my act of deconstructing, reconstructing etc.

Images to come, I promise...