Childhood memories by Mother Art Prize winner Mary Martins
Winner of the first Procreate Project Mother Art Prize, Mary Martins, has just finished her residency at the Mother House studio in Dagenham as part of her awards.
Here is an insight on what she has been working on and what are her plans for the future.
How has the Mother Art Prize helped your practice develop during the last few months?
Since receiving the Mother Art Prize last October, there has been a progressive yet significant shift in the perspective of my practice and artistic identity. The mentoring session from Sylvie Gormezano was extremely useful, with discussions surrounding creating work in the context of motherhood and expanding on my work within film and animation. Her advice really helped to untangle some creative blocks that I initially had about the direction that my work was taking.
‘The Divide’ was made at a very pivotal period on my creative journey, a stage where I really wanted to experiment with more abstract animation techniques and intertwine a clear narrative in relation to my own experiences of motherhood. I am extremely grateful for the positive responses I have received and to those it may have inspired.
It was also wonderful to see my work exhibited at the Left Overs exhibition and in a new environment as animators usually display their work at film festivals. What has really transpired, is that ‘The Divide’ can now be seen as a method of challenging the parameters of documentary practice through animation.
Shortly after making ‘The Divide’ I started to work on a new project which focuses on autobiographical memory in relation to identity and culture, and specifically my own cultural heritage. The place where our childhood memories go, is the theme that my new animated short will explore. For this animation, I’m working with rare archive footage of Nigeria in the 1970s to really draw out the richness of my heritage. I have the support of two other animators, which I believe will move by work away from the realm of moving image and experimental.
I used the time at the Mother House Studio to complete the research and development stage for this project. I have created a blog where the public can comment on this theme and share their earliest childhood memory. Similarly to my own, others have reported that their earliest childhood memory was a significant event involving a parent or carer.
I am now at the pre-production stage; where I will create a story board and animatic with the view to start the production stage in June.
My ideas are still evolving, my craft is developing, but animation is very technical, so it requires a great deal of dedication and practice. I am very excited to see the results of this new direction.
More about the Childhood Memories project
Our earliest childhood memories, often episodic, are one of our most intimate experiences. Scientists believe that these can start from as little as 3 years old. After the age of 5 these memories become elusive. There is a mechanism behind the cognitive process that retrieves these abandoned memories or temporary cases of amnesia. A journey back to where it all began can often be painful, beautiful or enlightening or perhaps a combination of all three. There is a very faint line between our repressed memories and those that we may never remember. According to Freud, infantile amnesia ‘veils our earliest youth from us and makes us strangers to it’. Restoring these memories brings a purpose – We can use this as a way of learning more about our family background and about ourselves as an individual.
Cultural differences may offer an explanation as to why some memories are more vivid in our mind than others and why others remember more from their childhood. Certain experiences in our adulthood often trigger the re-possession of the earliest childhood memory. We sometimes need to attach to the initial relationship we once had with the world.
My earliest childhood memory is when I accompanied my mother to Lagos, Nigeria in 1987. I was 4 years old. I was too young to remain in London with my Father and my two older sisters.
Read more about Mary Martins last project here
The Mother House is opening at the White House in Dagenham
Procreate Project is partnering with Create London for the opening of The Mother House at the White House, Dagenham
The Mother House is the first artists studio with integrated childcare, where children are welcomed into the workspace. The Mother House is now opening at The White House in Dagenham three days per week from 15th January 2018.
Stories from the Mother House:
“Not only did the kids absolutely love being there, I felt I gained not only a little space and time for myself and my own thoughts about my work, but I made really valuable connections with others“ – Michele Grant – Visual artist
“Mother House is something that has been screaming to be born ever since the Womenhouse at the CalArts in ‘72’” -Deirdre Donoghue
Procreate Project in partnership with Create London are opening the doors of the White House to local artist mothers and their children.
The aim is to support female artists, cultural development, create a network for women with children and create employment opportunities in Dagenham and Barking areas.
The Mother House is INTERGENERATIONAL, POLITICAL AND CREATIVELY NURTURING.
The Mother House started on 5th September 2016 in London Waterloo and aims to be established in different areas of London and UK in order to support women’s artistic development through motherhood.
The model promotes attachment and inclusion, bringing the child’s development closer to the mother’s art practice. Children learn about women’s roles outside the domestic environment.
Mother House pioneers a unique solution to issues we identified in relation to current childcare provision in the UK including findings that: childcare is under-funded and scarce; childcare schemes are largely based on separating child and mother; childcare is costly and rarely suited to families with low incomes and freelancers.
As well as a space for the artists to work, childcare will be creative and educational. All within the comfortable, open environment of the White House.
When
Mother House will then open on 15th January 2018, every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 9am until 5pm.
Where:
The White House, 884 Green Lane, Becontree Estate, Dagenham, RM8 1BX
Procreate Project is a place of knowledge, artistic production and experimentation. The social enterprise produces interdisciplinary initiatives and artistic outcomes in collaboration with artists across the globe and in partnership with universities and establishes organizations in UK and internationally.
Create exists to explore the ways artists can contribute to the lives of people in cities. Their work is primarily focused in east London, home to more artists and art organisations than anywhere in Europe, and one of the most economically deprived parts of the UK. They help artists to connect more closely with communities through an ambitious programme of projects.
The White House is a public space for art and social activity on the Becontree Estate in Dagenham. Opened by Create in 2016, The White House has been home to resident artists and hosted a range of workshops, talks, dinners and events – with artist engaging meaningfully with the community. The White House is supported by Create, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Arts Council England, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, City Bridge Trust, Genesis Foundation, Helen Hamlyn Trust and Investec.
Mother Art Prize Winner and Left Overs Selected Artists
The first Procreate Project ‘Mother Art’ Prize is a new prize in the contemporary art world, available to win for artists who are mothers, to support and provide them with a platform to showcase and evaluate their work.
Artists participating in the Mother Art Prize competition responded to the theme ‘Left Overs’: What is left of our sanity, bodies, sexuality, time and identities when mothering? What remains unused or unconsumed? How do left overs feed creativity?
The Mother Art Prize 2017 winner is the ‘The Divide’ by Mary Martins.
The Divide is an Animated Documentary that looks at one of the many ways in which love can exist in challenging circumstances. These are a higher level of intellectual abstraction that combine non-representational images with narrative. In the wider scope, unraveling interesting ways to relate these to current non-salient social issues, political issues and our human rights. The first film is about the separation of both parents resulting in single motherhood.
As a non-conformist Animator, I am currently exploring transcultural abstract art in its various manifestations in order to achieve creative harmony. I create movement and visuals in non-literal wilderness, challenging the negative connotations that often conceals the beauty behind truth, meaning and reality. I apply the medium of Animation to capture the zeitgeist of our modern times, concurrently addressing several existentialist ideals.
The films plays around a series of paintings produced by a baby at nursery during the breakdown of the relationship between his Mother and Father. The film rejoices the child’s creativity which leads to the mother’s acceptance of a new life. This causes her to experience moments of happiness and profound beauty.
“The non-representational becomes the non-judgmental and objective projection of life. This will enable me to deconstruct stereotypes, giving rise to the empowerment of the under-represented.”
Shot on B&W 16mm Film
Colour Digital
Oil Paints on Glass
Spray Paint and Pastel
Sand on glass
Animated glass paint on 16mm film
The Award Winner received:
- 1 Month residency at the next Mother House’s opening 2018 (this covers Childcare and Art Studio for 1 artist and 1 child) wwww.motherhousestudios.com
- £200 cash prize
- Up to 5 pieces of work exhibited at the Left Overs Show, within Filia Conference 2017
- 1 year online Membership with Procreate Project
- 1 free mentoring session with Sylvie Gormezano, Director at Picture this productions and Chair of the Association of Women Art Dealers (AWAD)
- 1 free ticket to Oxytocin: Mothering the World 2018 (dates TBC)
Mary Martins is a London based documentary Animator and Ethnologist. Her ideas are often of a philosophical nature as it enables her to work with a great degree of autonomy. She will be progressing onto an MA at the Royal College of Art where she endeavours to produce a series of philosophical essay films ‘a treatise’ as an exploration of transcultural art in its various manifestations in order to make sense of how we inhabit the world beyond sense-perception and appearance. With a strong interest in aesthetics she hopes to link her research around phenomenology with animism, theosophy, humanism and social constructions.
In an attempt to push boundaries within her work, she juxtaposes various traditional film making techniques retaining the rich elements of our past.
University of East London
BA Animation & Moving Image
University of the Arts London, LCC
Foundation in Animation
University of Birmingham
BA Philosophy
