“The story that follows me, the ghost that haunts me”
A short film, exploring my personal experience of maternal lineage. Made in 2014/15 and first screened at the Mother in the Mother (MitM) exhibition at Knowle West Media Centre, Mother’s Day weekend 2015. In 2016 it was screened in London when the MitM exhibition opened in the Free Space Gallery at Kentish Town Health Centre.
Due to the personal nature of the film, I chose not to have it publicly available so it has been sat on a hard drive and a private vimeo setting since 2016. I’m currently reflecting back on MitM as my children get older and it feels like the right time to re-explore this material. On 7th March 2024 art works from MitM were exhibited as part of the ‘Mothers of Invention’ exhibition in Bristol. The portrait photos, pregnancy casts and postcards to mums have been sitting in my attic since the last exhibition, and it was powerful to see them up again.
In many ways , it is a very timeless project. The question “How does the way you were mothered affect the way you mother your own children?” doesn’t really go out of date. Yet obviously it is also in some ways ‘of its time’ and was created in the context of my life from 2012-2019. Many things have changed. Some remain the same.
In some ways this feels like an archive project. But my choice to share Snow now, on Mother’s Day weekend 2024, is a considered one and an important part of my current artistic practise. It is part of my current process of ‘telling my story’ and increasing my voice, in the context of working out the ways that feel right and safe to do this. This is definitely an ongoing, ever developing process.
