Artist Residency in Motherhood Manifesto
In a season of life that is homebound, family focused, and globally uncertain, I declare publicly that I am a fully formed human being with a rich inner life;
that the identities of mother, wife, homemaker, and worker are role-based descriptors, and therefore secondary, to my identity as a creative human made in the image of the creator, who is definitely not male;
and that my latent, inescapable desire to be an artist must be claimed inwardly, through a commitment to doing personal and physical work of an intimate, vulnerable, and revelatory nature.
I will no longer wait upon some external voice to proclaim me an artist.
Therefore, as an artist-mother in residence in my own home, I will:
… embrace the colors, textures, poetry, humor, and dirt of my everyday existence to create rich expressions of myself that include, but are not limited to, my children and my current state, while affirming the paradox that the very mundane I often scorn is beautiful and sacred.
… allow the spirit, my intuition, and my community of artist-mothers to shape the intentional ways I choose to express my emotions, intellect, and wit.
… reject the influence of the visiting forces of cynicism, comparison, and contempt, for they are gateways to hopelessness.
… commit to making as much raw and revelatory art as I possibly can for a period of one year. I commit to not judging these nascent works with any capitalistic, quantitative, or valuative lens, but will treat each creation as I strive to treat myself, my family, and my world: as whole and holy works of art.
Signed:
Megan Lindsey
8 November 2021