Artists As Parents As Artists

A drawing of a train done by our middle daughter whilst on our way to London.

We were discussing the trip to London with our eldest child, who is eight. We told her that we’re going to London to visit two galleries. She said ‘Is that it?’

We looked together at the images for Home Truths on The Photographers’ Gallery website. She asked relevant questions (‘Why has the woman got a dress on but the baby is naked?’). While we were doing this, she had The Royals on her mind. ‘Could we go and see the Queen’s Palace? That’s what I’d really like to do.’ But we can’t. It’s the wrong end of town and we haven’t allowed time for anything beyond the two galleries.

In The Dark Night (2013)

Nightly drawings of the father and baby, done in the dark, without putting on the light or getting out of bed.

We started Artists As Parents As Artists in response to the apparent incompatibility of art and parenting. We would frequently find ourselves saying to our children ‘hang on, I’ve nearly finished, I’ll help you in a minute’. The things we were doing, for our practice, did not interest them or allow a way for them to be involved.

With this in mind, we want to think how our trip to London can be relevant for our three children as well as for us. How can we approach this trip as a family?

Home Truths: Photography, Motherhood and Identity is spread across two locations: The Photographers’ Gallery, and The Foundling Museum. Coincidentally we made a piece of work for The Foundling Museum about five years ago. Home Truths is described as ‘an exhibition exploring representations of motherhood through the works of eight contemporary artists.’ We’re particularly interested in Tierney Gearon.

Gearon became infamous in 2001 when some of her photos, of her own children, were confiscated by the police from the gallery where they were on show. In a piece for the Guardian shortly after Gearon described her photos as ‘snapshots of everyday life’ and she pointed out the lack of staging or photoshopping as communicating an authentic representation of childhood. She often offers props, masks for instance, to her children:

‘I might introduce an element, like a mask, to a given situation, but I would never insist that the child put it on. The photograph of my little boy naked on a pedestal, for example, happened completely spontaneously. My mother-in-law was going to a wedding, and she came over to the pool to say goodbye to my son, who was splashing about naked. He ran up on to the pillar and looked down at her. I happened to have my camera there, and I took the picture. That’s how all these pictures come into being.’