Being mothers, (involved) fathers, caregivers, and parents is a part of many people’s identities — one that is often ignored within the art world. Although art is a field of work that, in most contexts, favors the personal over the official, and the emotional over the material, it nonetheless, like most other professional spheres, replicates the patriarchal strategies that render parenting invisible.
Mophradat is actively looking for ways to shift access to opportunities. Opening up its venue in Athens as a summer retreat for artists and their families to live together, where artists can work and children can play in an experiment of communal living, is one attempt at doing so. Three artists (and partners) with young children will be invited to spend a month-long residency in the venue. The format will allow for shared childcare and afford working space and time to the residents, all within a safe social environment, with resources, time, skills and stories made common. As the experience unfolds, Mophradat will use the opportunity to engage residents in further explorations of the theme of motherhood.