Making Space: Holding Time

This Making Space residency by Lisa Creagh showcases a preview of her new body of work Holding Time as a multi-screen installation featuring animation, stills and video.

Despite accumulated evidence of the physical, emotional and mental health benefits to the child, as well as the environmental and social benefits, in a society preoccupied with economic growth the time saving  arguments in favour of bottle-feeding remain a major obstacle to higher rates of breastfeeding.

The range of mothers is deliberately broad in scope. Mothers range in age from early twenties to mid forties, with children aged from a few weeks to up to three and a half. There are tandemfeeding mothers (mothers feeding two children simultaneously), single mothers and mothers of sick children. All are shot in the same way: against a neutral dark background in lighting reminiscent of Renaissance paintings.

For the Fabrica exhibition, a stop motion animation of twelve mothers featured across four screens, representing a minute in time. This minute is counted out in seconds by the accompanying ‘Time Map’ created digitally by Creagh from still photographic images of glass geometrical ornaments she had specially commissioned by Brighton Glass Artist, Mike Barrett.

Using a cast pouring method, Barrett created solid glass objects in place of the two dimensional ceramic tiles used in Cosmatesque flooring so that Creagh could develop the Cosmateque ornamental design in 3D.

By re-contextualising breastfeeding mothers within this older tradition, Creagh attempts to ‘encode’ the time spent breastfeeding and indeed mothering as pattern, rather than number. In doing so, she asserts the possibility of non-action (sitting still) as containing potentially ‘radical agency’, freed from Industrialised Time.

The development of the work is promoted using a specially created online Social Enterprise called The Parlour . Through interviews with the participating mothers, and a blog written by Sociologist and collaborator, Lucila Newell, the ideas and themes of Holding Time are distributed to a wider audience. For more details visit www.the-parlour.org.

A discussion about the work will take place in the gallery from 18.30-21.00. To book a free ticket visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lisa-creagh-in-conversation-with-christiane-monarchi-tickets-39482999715