I’m gonna sleep like a stone falling off a cliff
60 x 60 x 72 inches, 2021
Melissa Blackall Photography
This artwork was featured in the Mother Art Prize
a group exhibition at the Zabludowicz Collection
London, England
March 30 – June 25, 2023.
Established and curated by Procreate Project,
the Mother Art Prize is the only international prize
for self-identifying women and non-binary
visual artists with caring responsibilities.
The selected artworks are connected by a deep
urge to address intersectional socio-cultural matters.
Visitors are invited to engage with works that speak of
the tension between a capitalistic culture
and the lived experiences of those living at the margins:
those who are raised in the diasporas, those who are living
in poverty and with disabilities, those playing with the
notions of ‘human’, the female, the pregnant and the
mother. Across a range of media, with differing styles
of expression and cultural perspectives, and a touch
of humor, these artists create a conversation between
history, contemporary lives and the future.
Mother Art Prize exhibition
at the Zabludowicz Collection, London
photography courtesy Tim Bowditch
I'm gonna sleep like a stone falling off a cliff explores invisible labor specifically the invisible labor of families, the responsibility of which often falls upon women regardless of a pandemic. This artwork reflects a period of 5+ years in which I lost both my parents, cared for my father at the end of his life, emptied and sold my childhood home and tended to my children throughout the COVID pandemic. The kitchen table (and fragments of home) serve as vehicles through which to consider the burden and privilege of care, grief, the residue of families and the invisible labor that occurs within the domestic space, which is consistently undervalued, overlooked and underpaid.
Art made at the kitchen table has historically been looked down upon because it was typically made by women, by mothers and those without means or time for a traditional studio space. These works acknowledge that the space of creativity can exist within the home. The kitchen table can be a space of resistance (or of possibility) as to what constitutes a “proper” space for performing cultural work.
photography courtesy Tim Bowditch
photography courtesy Tim Bowditch
Melissa Blackall Photography