November: final exhibition 11.16.24

final exhibition texts:

 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
www.alexiacameron.com       IG: @lexialoo

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.

Project Bibliography
View annotated bibliography in full at https://www.alexiacameron.com/project-proposal-matrescence

Athan, Aurélie, Ph.D. www.matrescence.com

Athan, Aurelie. “Matrescence: the emerging mother.” Medium, March 8, 2019, https://medium.com/@ama81/matrescence-the-emerging-mother-69d1699ff0cc

Assler-Alvey, Robin (artist) https://www.robinassner-alvey.com

Bachelard, Gaston. The Poetics of Space. Translated by Maria Jolas, Penguin Classics, 2014.

Barrera, Jazmina. Linea Negra: An Essay on Pregnancy and Earthquakes. (book) Translated by Christina MacSweeney, Two Lines Press, 2022.

Buteyn, Kaylan. (artist) The Artist Mother Podcast https://artistmotherpodcast.com & Artist Caregiver Network. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artistmotherpodcast

Carpenter, Tara, et al. (Heidi Moller Somsen and Kaylan Buteyn), editors. An Artist and a Mother. (essays) Demeter Press, 2023.

Chinchilla Moreno, Izaskun, “Eco-Friendly Pop-up Architecture,” (course) Domestika, domestika.org

Delgado, Elizabeth (healing justice practitioner, community organizer, and wellbeing strategist). Colectiva Wellness & Healing https://colectivawellbeing.com/

Englund, Pam. Birthing from Within (revised). Partera Press, 2010.

Goldsworthy, Andy. (artist) https://andygoldsworthystudio.com

Hahn, Thich Nhat. You are Here: Discovering the magic of the present moment. 2001. Translated by Sherab Chodzin Hohn, Shambhala Publications, 2009. 

Hattam, Nasim. (senior journalist, BBC) “Matrescence: The birth of a mother.” (video; 05:17) August 2023 https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peopleandplaces/matrescence-the-birth-of-a-mother/vi-AA1fItnH 

Hayhoe, Katherine. Saving Us: A climate scientist’s case for hope and healing in a divided world. Atria/One Signal Publishers, 2021.

Hersey, Tricia. Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto. Little Brown Spark, 2022

Heti, Sheila. Motherhood. Picador, 2019.

Jones, Lucy. Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood. Penguin, 2023

Keenan, Annabel “Whose Mother is Nature, Anyway?” (article) Hyperallergic, November 2022. https://hyperallergic.com/782324/im-not-your-mother-ppow-gallery

“I’m Not Your Mother” (group exhibition) PPOW Gallery, October 28-December 2, 2022. https://www.ppowgallery.com/exhibitions/im-not-your-mother#tab:thumbnails;tab-1:slideshow

Knott, Sarah. Mother is a Verb: An Unconventional History. Sarah Crichton Books, 2019.

Lamott, Anne. Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year. Anchor, 2005. 

Love, Jena. (Artist) “The Absurdity of Pregnancy and Motherhood” series. https://www.jenahlove.com/absurdity

May, Katherine. Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times. Riverhead Books, 2020. 

McCahon, Nikki. The Dear Mama Podcast, “Healing the Mother Wound with Bethany Webster,” S1:E29 (46:54), 20 April 2020. https://www.nikkimccahon.com/

McCahon, Nikki. Discovering Matrescence. (eBook) Dear Mama Pty Ltd, 2019-2022.

Odell, Jenny. How to do Nothing. Melville House, 2020. 

Raphael, Dana. "Matrescence, Becoming a Mother, A “New/Old” Rite de Passage". Being Female: Reproduction, Power, and Change, edited by Dana Raphael, De Gruyter Mouton, 1975, pp. 65-72. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110813128.65

Sacks, Alexandra. “A new way to think about motherhood.” TED talk. May 2018. (06:17) https://www.ted.com/talks/alexandra_sacks_a_new_way_to_think_about_the_transition_to_motherhood

Simmons, Jeanne K. (artist) https://jeanneksimmons.com/projects

Union of Concerned Scientists, “What is Climate Resilience?” (article)  6 June 2022, https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/what-climate-resilience

Weller, Francis. The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of renewal and the sacred work of grief. North Atlantic Books, 2015.