Dedicating time and presence as an act of care

Exploring time, care, and presence in the context of motherhood, this piece formed part of my residency ‘Mother Nature Balance’ at RuptureXIBIT. It was first shown as a performance in this London gallery space, orchestrated remotely from my home in North Yorkshire, as a reflection on the difficulties of balancing creative practice with caring responsibilities. 

A video of me passing sand from my hands into my sons was projected in the gallery window whilst I simultaneously sent thoughts and questions to the public via a printer and connected remotely from my living room where I was taking care of my son. 

Exhibited subsequently as a video installation, the public is invited to interact with the piece, taking a moment to dedicate their time and presence by means of using the pile of sand that sits on a plinth and passing it from their hands to someone else’s, in the same way I do in the video. 

The work is a call to slow down and consider how we balance our time and what it means to be fully present, and how this can be an act of care, to ourselves, and to others.