Stitching as Registration: labouring over maternal care

I am constantly manoeuvring to balance the workload of motherhood and artist whilst conducting an artistic practice in the home. In this project I ask:  How can stitching as a contemporary textile practice register the unseen labour and time of mothering? This question is explored through my textile art practice which is conducted during fleeting moments of time carved out around mothering duties.

This artwork is constructed from antique pillowcases, unpicked and then resewn to form a banner like structure. With a needle and thread, I hand stitch abstract marks using repetition and unconventional embroidery stitches. Using the kitchen table as my studio allows me to be present as a mother and to accrue increments of time to make this project.

My research has been guided by the theoretical frameworks of first and second wave feminism, matricentric feminism and the history of embroidery and samplers.

Through my practice-led research I have investigated ways of subverting the stereotype of mother and artist and making visible the unseen labour of the mother. My work transcribes a mother’s laborious day into a textile artwork, made in a private domestic setting, for display in a public domain such as a gallery.  Through this work I honour and make visible the unseen labour of mothers everywhere.

Keywords: Motherhood, textiles, labour, repetition, domestic setting, feminism.