MATERNAR - Vernissage by Emma Rytoft & Rommy Gonzales

MATERNAR

To Mother

verb: 1. bring up (a child) with care and affection.

Rommy Gonzalez (b. Chile) and Emma Rytoft (b. Sweden) present a series of paintings inspired by their individual experiences of motherhood. Taking on the themes of resilience, growth, creation and emotional landscapes, the two artists show motherhood for what it is to them.

A complex role, filled with love and turmoil, being a mother is a great adventure. In a world of sleepless nights, strained relationships to partners, bodies held by tiny hands, stretched and leaking, finding the time to create is a continuous challenge. Yet the experience of motherhood is an essential part of human experience and the values around which the experience centres are fundamental to the flourishing of humanity.

Resilience and growth in the plant world work as symbols of motherhood in Gonzalez work. With a special focus on the world of fungi, she explores complex relationships in the natural world. Plants, like humans are dependent on a supportive and nurturing surrounding in order to thrive.

In Rytoft’s bold, ephemeral compositions, the notion of the idea of the mother as the source of all life mixes with snippets from a very personal experience of motherhood. There is an acute sense of time passing, of the child growing as the mother inevitably declines, and of a struggle between choosing to spend time on creating art and cuddling the child.