other selves started out as an art research project that took place between October 2016 and February 2017 as part of my MA in Inclusive Arts Practice at the University of Brighton.

are you a mother?

“would you be interested in finding out with me what happens when an artist and a mother play together on their own terms?

other selves: is an art research project exploring collaborations between you and me.

No previous art experience necessary. The ‘art’ will happen in the process.

Over ten weekly one-to-one sessions lasting up to 2 hours, we will play with materials and ideas; devising and improvising; creating and making connections and re-connections, with ourselves and each other; drawing on the everyday ‘stuff’ of our lives and taking time-out from our role as a mother.”

I was particularly interested in how we would find the space and the time to develop a creative practice together, and how the ‘playing together‘ would evolve, through negotiations and collaborations, both with each other, and with the materials and objects we would feel inspired to work with.

Initially, three women responded to my ‘call out for participants’ with leaflets that simply asked: are you a mother? I met each participant for  a coffee or tea at the university for an informal chat about the project and what commitment it would require. I also explained that a participant was free to leave the project at any point without needing to give an explanation or reason.

Over the next five months I met with each participant, one-to-one, once a week – on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at times convenient to us and in places ‘wherever possible’. We worked in various spaces in the university, in community centres and in cafes. 

During those months you might even have caught a glimpse of us, taking time out from our role as mothers to play on our own terms, connecting to each other and to the other parts of our selves, through art-making.

We made stop-motion and live-action film; performance-to-camera pieces; explored a diverse range of unconventional materials and transformed objects. 

Beautiful worlds were created – rich with the stories of our place in our families, and our place in the world.

But first we negotiated how we would begin:

“Armed with tools filling a small 1950s vanity case to the brim: glue and brushes, scissors and black pens, tippex, coloured pens and paints – and then also images of ourselves – as a child; and from times before we had a child – in moments when we had previously felt happy and fulfilled – who had we been? Do we remember? We gather images, lots of images – of things that we love: that inspire us; that we are curious about….and we begin.

We sit together in any available space and we share our pictures, share our stories. We sit close-by a photocopier and make new images; new combinations….joining and collaging our pictures and stories together.

We work into, altering, a booklet from the National Trust : “50 things to do before you’re 11 and 3/4” – taking time back for ourselves.

Trust is how we begin.”

Each collaboration began with several sessions of making collages and/or working into and over the national trust booklet – before developing along its own particular trajectory dependant on where our experiences intersected and dependant upon the stories we shared – which then prompted a unique choice of materials and way of working.