
New Skin – Exploring Motherhood
Below – installation shots from BPF16 exhibition at The Regency Town House, Brighton
[Links to each of the sevev separate elements exhibited as the installation ‘New Skin’ are below]
The kitchen of the Grade I listed Regency Town House allowed me to playfully explore the domestic space & its everyday absurdities. I carefully crafted a series of eight installation pieces, exploiting the quirks & character of the kitchen.
1. A giant photographic House of Cards balanced the fragility of my new identity on a kitchen table
2. Crockery & tea towels imprinted my everyday domestic life on a Kitchen Dresser
3. The everyday idiosyncrasies of a toddler were delicately suspended in frames across a fireplace in the series Passing Pieces
4. A curated Wall of Images playfully displayed scenes of toddler-mother life
5. Video Projection
6. Self Portraits
7. At the rear lay the hollow remains of a scullery where I chose to explore a darker side in my motherhood journey – Miscarriage
About ‘New Skin‘
As a photographer I was compelled to document my pregnancy (project ‘288 Days’, 2014) and also the days, weeks & months which unfolded after the birth of my son, Rico. The New Skin project developed alongside my own transformation into the ‘new skin’ of motherhood. Boundaries between night & day, joy & despair, elation & exhaustion were confused. As my son began to grow, move & interact in our home, I began to notice his small interventions. I found that when I gave into the chaos & embraced it, there was rich ground for documenting the changes which were happening physically, emotionally & psychologically in my new identity as a mother. I documented everything, taking time to digest the scenes he’d leave behind. It was my way of recording & remembering each of these small but significant stages.
It began to be my way of restoring some of the balance between being an artist & a mother, allowing the creative to seep into the domestic world I was now submerged within. All of the images were naturally occurring situations & happenings. This was really important for me since I always work within a documentary style.


New Skin – Kitchen Dresser

New Skin – House of Cards

New Skin – Passing Pieces

New Skin – Miscarriage

New Skin – Installation Photographs
