MATRESCENCE: Becoming mother nature

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“Matrescence: Becoming Mother Nature” final project installation views, 11.16.24

Matrescence: Becoming Mother Nature is an outdoor art installation project crafted primarily from trash, recycled, and reclaimed materials; time; and the elements —bringing awareness to the need for environmental awareness and climate resilience. It explores the seismic transition through gestation and birth, and how the connections between past and future generations are related to the inner child, personal and collective healing, and survival in a changing climate.

Conceptually, this work examines identity, trauma, grief, and healing; mental, physical, and spiritual wellness; and the body’s (and Earth’s) need to rest and repair.

The term “matrescence” was first used by American anthropologist Dana Raphael in 1973 to describe the developmental process of becoming a mother. It encompasses the periods of “pre-conception, pregnancy and birth, surrogacy or adoption, to the postnatal period and beyond. The scope of the changes encompasses multiple domains —bio-psycho-social-political-spiritual” (Dr. Aurélie Athan, matrescence.com).

This project is a conceptual and physical manifestation of my search for answers to the questions: How do I find time and space for myself? How can I attend to the transformation within me? Who am I now? What have we born(e), and what do we bear? What can I learn from nature about grief, transition, and healing?

There is an obvious connection between my own recent matrescence into parenthood and the body of work created, expanded upon, and presented in this outdoor installation. At the same time, it is a gateway to an even more universal phenomenon — who we become, and how the process of becoming changes us.

Matrescence may seem like an exclusively parent-focused or female-focused word, but I argue that it doesn’t have to be. (The English language is littered with male-centric language that is purportedly “universal.”) It is a jumping-off point for examining the interior process of any major change — starting a family, entering a graduate program, writing a book, transitioning into a new identity, or even grieving the loss of a child or the children you never had: What are you creating? Who are you becoming? What have you borne? What has been born from your wild imagination, persistence, attention? At the same time, what is imperfect about your creations? What happens when we accept imperfection and even impermanence as part of the joy of being alive?

Using time, rain, and nature as mediums in my work has allowed my creations the freedom to evolve outside of my control, to let go of the illusion of permanence, is critical for exploring my own grief but also finding comfort and solace in nature. I think of the child I have brought into this world, and how I cannot control her future, and I wonder if all creation is the same: we can only contribute so much, and then it takes on a new life outside of us. What will our artwork, our children, our creative endeavors engender as they continue on in the world?

Any major becoming can be both exhilarating and exhausting. Something is always lost when something else is gained (and vice versa). This work acknowledges the grief of letting go, and looks to something bigger than ourselves — the forces of nature and the wisdom of the earth — for hope, solace, and rest in times of major change. I hope this project speaks to you as it does to me, as a call for further connection, questioning, and collective healing.

— Alexia Cameron Casiano, November 2024

 
 

Installation videos from final project exhibition, Kirkland, WA, 11.16.24:

 

Notes on materials & development:

As an artist, parent, and MFA student, I grapple with limited time and space in addition to larger questions of meaning in my work. I wanted to work on a larger scale and to experiment with installations, but wasn’t sure where I could physically do that work. I have a philosophy of creative reuse and always look first to what is already available — I realized that could apply to space as well as materials, so I decided to build this work directly in my own backyard. Doing so opened up a whole new medium for me: the interaction of time and nature. 

The careful consideration and research of each material chosen, and their invisible effects on the natural environment as they degrade, is born from the anxiety that I bear around climate change and the world that we are leaving for future generations to inherit — as well as hope for the future and a gentler way to coexist with nature. For more details and information on materials, visit www.alexiacameron.com/matrescence (project journal).

The project was conceived as an interactive and contemplative space: a place to sit and look up at the changing sky above, the created and natural environment around. A transitional — impermanent — dwelling place; a place to embrace limitations of time, space, climate, and corporeal body and see where they lead me.

The integrated gallery walls show artworks made over the past three years in my journey of matrescence. They are made of reclaimed pallet wood, and were built by a neighbor (originally for an outdoor art gallery for their children), highlighting the importance of community in this project’s development. In the process of creation, I have connected with many friends, neighbors, and helpful strangers. Nothing big can happen in isolation; we need each other. Thank you to everyone who has helped along the way, contributing to this project in big ways and small.

works included:

I had a baby and it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, 2023-2024, acrylic and pencil on hand-stretched canvas; dirt; and time

I am here and you are here and/We are rapidly changing, together (diptych), 2022, acrylic and mixed media on wood panels

 
 

Nesting Series, 2022, digital photographs (quad) on paper

Good mothers don’t feel, 2023-2024, acrylic and mixed media on recycled wood panel

I never asked to join this cult of self-sacrifice and pain, 2023, acrylic on canvas

 

Protest Belly #2, 2022, digital photograph giclee print on cotton rag paper

“Crib Decay (Return to Nature)”, April-October 2023, video of environmental decay project (1:05) with original background audio; cardboard, string, nature, and time.

REST, 2024, recycled and reclaimed water resistant fabrics, vinyl, bookcloth, and foam stuffing

Feeding time (No Sleep), 2023, painted alarm clocks set three hours apart, wood, metal, string

I am not motherhood/I am a good mother, 2023, acrylic gesso on cardboard

I am not my mother/I am not my child, 2023, acrylic gesso on cardboard

Mother and Earth need to rest, 2023, acrylic, cardboard, paper, fabric, moss, leaves, and string on wood panel

Beyond the final project, the images below have all been a part of or feed into this project in some way. These works include sculpture, installation, string art, 2D paintings/drawings, recycled materials, environmental/land art, photography, time, and community building.