warrawing (mother)
My mother is a recurring subject in my work; her presence reflects my natural instincts and resistances as a woman. This collection of works was made in collaboration with her before she passed away following a long battle with cancer. Knowing she wasn’t going to be around forever, she became my main subject of enquiry as a way to celebrate her life and process the grief I was experiencing.
1. Video of 'mum and lucy' 5:06min, 2014. Based on an artwork by Gillian Wearing, I asked Mum to share her most honest thoughts and memories she had of me, and I did the same for her. I then cut this audio into a video as we mimed each other's words back to the camera. This process was incredibly revealing but also healing - as it brought to surface our similarities and differences in a comical way, allowing each other to accept them and continue to move on our own paths.
2. Photograph 'warrawing' silver gelatin hand print on Hahnemühle,16 x 20."
In 'warrawing,' I photographed my mother and I in the granite house my family and I had lived in for over 30 years. In the initial photo, we sit opposite each other; one gazes at the other while the other looks at the mirror reflecting the camera. Our positions are reversed to complete a diptych. After printing the diptych, I returned to the same room (however empty) on the day we were to move out of the house. I re-composed the photographic prints on the wall to capture the final photograph.
3. Photograph (3) double exposures of Mum. The first exposure is a cut out figure in the shape of a woman, the second exposure is of Mum.
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© Lucy Foster. Living and working between Naarm (Melbourne) and Dja Dja Wurrung Country (Castlemaine) on unceded land belonging to the Wurundjeri and Jaara Jaara people of the Kulin Nation.
