LABOUR OF LOVE
May 18 - 22
At the opening night Sarah Maple will do a live performance
"Before having my baby last year I knew one thing for certain about motherhood: the fact that worldwide, mothers are underpaid, overworked, exploited, overlooked, isolated and perpetually guilty.
Something else that I knew before going into parenting: we’re expected to do all this work for free.
We are told one obvious benefit of breastfeeding is that it’s free. Breastfeeding is an on demand, physically exhausting task that Women are told they need to do for at least 6 months. Free? It’s only free if you don’t value Women’s time.
Yes - of course - having a baby is a personal ‘choice’. But it’s a choice made by a man as well as a woman.
What would happen if all Women one day decided that this ‘choice’ wasn’t worth impacting their careers and earning potential. Even today, in a world where we are told Feminism has served its purpose, calls for affordable childcare or flexible working are met with a yawn and an eye roll. Most mothers work part time, where pay is lower and prospects for promotion are reduced by more than half. By the time a woman’s first child is 12, she is paid, on average, 33% less than a man. Conversely becoming a father actually gives men’s earnings a boost.
It has always struck me as a peculiar contradiction that if a woman chooses not to have children, and avoid this fate, she is looked upon with pity or confusion. Becoming a mother is what women are supposed to do. It’s our life’s purpose.
But why is it that any work predominantly associated as ‘Women’s work’ is considered ‘other’ – it’s unimportant, disregarded and not valued.
Not even by women?
Since having my baby I decided to log every feed or a nappy change and the time it’s taken. Looking back on the data, I am astounded at the sheer amount of hours I’m putting in to the thankless (as far as society is concerned) task of being a parent. Not to mention all the things I hadn’t logged; the length of my pregnancy, all the doctors appointments, the burping, the holding, the worrying etc, the list goes on….
My new installation ‘Labour of Love’ at Art Rotterdam is a visual depiction of this data over a three month period. In total our baby was fed 650 times. My installation will be 650 images of myself and my baby, each representing a feed, each with a hand finished element covering my face. The aim is to highlight the sheer volume of work that is expected of mothers and to challenge people to rethink the value of the time spent. On the opening night I will do a live performance where I will write the number of each feed on each individual card.
Raising a child is seen as a female task, not a real job. Thus unpaid and undervalued. Addressing this and rectifying the situation is the unfinished work of feminism."
- Sarah Maple
The carpet is made by Moooi carpets, thank you for this valuable contribution.