This piece Untitled (Exhaustion II) is part of a series of works that use tension points between cloth and domestic armatures to spark conversation around the complex experiences of reproduction and caregiving. I am particularly interested in making visible maternal exhaustion and responding to the questions: What is depletion, being on the brink, untenable time, fatigue threshold? What is the antidote to burnout? What does nourishment/care look like?

In Untitled (Exhaustion II) the broken-down trampoline frame is activated by the precarious maternal fiber form. The fascia-like surface is stretched thin, taught under the demanding pressures of the simultaneous labor; work and childcare. Visibly worn and extended to the breaking point, the maternal form appears incapable of carrying any more weight yet persists as a structure of support. 

The creative process of making acts as analogy to the pressures of motherhood and also a potential for nourishment. Created through the process of shibori, the silk fabric is tightly bound with cotton cord. The intense pressure acts as a resist to the plant-based dyes, marking surface textures suggestive of the expansion and deflation of the mothering body (wear, stretch marks, wrinkles). The dye is crafted from medicinal plants such as tansy, pomegranate skins and madder root, historically used as emmenagogues to encourage menstruation. The fleshy translucent tones from the strong herbal decoctions act as a marker of female agency over reproduction, a potential nutritive antidote to depletion.

Read more about Emily Zarse on her artist page.