As a new mother, I am particularly moved and excited to be part of this upcoming exhibition, curated by Laurel Nakadate, with work made in collaboration with Hồng-Ân Trương. This image from its last iteration at Leslie Tonkonow Gallery with our work next to Yoko Ono.
New Mexico State University Art Museum will open the very first art exhibit at its newly constructed University Art Museum in February 2020.
“Labor: Motherhood & Art in 2020” features the work of Tracey Baran, María Berrío, Patty Chang, Lenka Clayton, Amy Cutler, Joey Fauerso, Tierney Gearon, Kate Gilmore, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Las Hermanas Iglesias, Mary Kelly, Justine Kurland, Marilyn Minter, Laurel Nakadate, Hương Ngô and Hồng- Ân Trương, Yoko Ono, Catherine Opie, Laurie Simmons, Wendy Red Star and Mickalene Thomas.
The exhibit, including a range of “planned interactive and engaging programming looks at motherhood in its various forms, from a universal truth and ubiquitous creative act to a solitary and individual experience that changes everything in a woman’s creative life,” said UAM Director Marisa Sage, who is co-curator of the exhibit along with New York-based photographer and filmmaker Laurel Nakadate.
The exhibit “addresses and challenges the documented human experiences of motherhood and the ways the mother and childrearing have been perceived and portrayed in art, both historically and in current popular culture,” Sage said. “Building upon the multitudes of conversations happening globally, Labor looks at motherhood through the lenses of empowerment, empathy, intimacy, selflessness, vulnerability, failure, anxiety and choice.”
“There have always been an abundance of artists making work about mothers and motherhood,” Nakadate said, “but until recently, many galleries and institutions have not created a space for that work. Our hope is that providing a platform for this work can create a forum for conversations to take place, and for artists ruminating within this realm to find one another.”
