Artist Eti Wade discusses "The Maternal Gaze" at The Front Room Gallery, Troikay Editions, London 13th January 2011

Eti Wade

Good Night Boys by Eti Wade

Some of the mothers artist that attended to the talk, me on the left hand side corner bitting my nails.



Eti Wade is an artist, photography lecturer and head of the Photography MA at Thames Valley University.

This event was organized in conjunction with artist Martina Mullaney, founder of Enemies of Good Art. Enemies of Good Art is a group which seeks to investigate the possibilities of combining parenthood and the artistic practise. In particular it seeks to encourage participation by parents and their children in a series of public discussions and art based events.

The subject of the dicussion was mothers photographing their children and why being this an everyday occurrence it is not often that the maternal view is put on display. In her talk Eti surveyed the exposing mother, from Lady Clementina Hawarden to Sally Mann, to identify common themes and suggest interpretations of the social unease accompanying the maternal gaze.

As a conclusion on this talk I have to say:

Many women artists like to get their children involved in the artwork and many of the times the children are portrayed in the actual piece. Everything Eta said about the difficult feelings about the maternal made sense to me, however I think our children do not have necessarily to be the artwork or appear on it. The "unfair" representation of the mother in society it is something that we mothers have to deal with it, I don't think our children needs to be part of it, I can't say never but I'm not happy with the idea of putting my daughter in the scene when representing my feelings. My daughter is intimately mine but clearly her own self as well.  I can't use her as way to understand myself, it will not be fair on her.

Rachel Whiteread - Drawings - TATE BRITAIN 8 Sept 2010 - 16 January 2011

  "My drawings are a diary of my work" Rachel Whiteread


Untitled..Double Mattress Yellow (1991) by Rachel Whiteread

This is the first museum retrospective of Rachel Whiteread drawings. Again drawing invites the viewer to see a private realm of the artist's thoughts.

This exhibition is comprised by drawings on paper, collages and a collection of objects.

The drawings reminds me to the drawings of a  draughtsman. Sensitive lines and loose spontaneity are traced on coloured graph paper and tracing paper. For the artist the nature of the paper are very much part of the drawing

itself. 

All of them has a very plain and minimalist feel, there are not vibrant colours, instead there are some touches of soft colours acrylic paint, correction fluid, ink and resin skilfully applied to them.

These drawings of tables, chairs, floors, beds and mattresses, baths and slabs, houses, rooms, stairs, doors, windows and switches, torsos and heads makes me reflect in the artist interest or inspiration from quotidian things used by us human beings, elements of our everyday life that we usually take by granted.

Looking at her drawings makes you think in her sculptures, these studies or thoughts are as sculptural as their sculptures are graphic. Her drawings impart tremendous skill and sensitivity.

I see the artist as a collector of images. Approaches as collage, old postcards, found objects seem to be an important part of the artist's creative process.

I have choose to see her work because it is very different to what I do. From my own point of view her work is almost too cold and structural. It is very minimalist and secretive, it doesn't give much away, and I think this is what I like about Whiteread's work. There is no text in her work, there is not a necessity to explain anything. I sometimes felt confronted by these drawings, they were almost too clever and confident.

I felt that perhaps I should not draw in such a figurative way and maybe I should be more abstract when drawing on paper. I feel that in my work I give to many clues to the viewer, I'm not sure whether the use of text or better said "too descriptive" text makes my work boring or not engaging enough.


Study for "Village"-1st, 2004
Ink, pencil, and collage on paper
(29.9 x 41.1 cm)






Some of the artist's objects collection

Statement

I need to become more concrete and confrontational in my interactions with people through my work. I feel my subject matter and the execution of ideas is strong, however hesitation and lack of self-believe makes the work unfortunately less convincing and therefore not respected.

My practice is a compilation of female daily life traumas and frustrations drawn from my own personal experiences.

My work have the necessity to be raw, like if it has been extracted directed from my guts. The process has to be fast and spontaneous in order to achieve this. 

Sexual representations of the female and male body, a discussion between them is important in my work.

Some people might think I'm obsessed with sex but taking in cosideration that sexual reproduction is the beginning of life and with the fact that I'm tracing down my identity as a woman, I have to definitely look at anything starting from that point.

In my work I do not represent my experiences as a woman but the ones of many women. There is a common feeling of awakening from frustration, fighting against the idealisation of mothers among many other feminine subjects.