Introducing mothermother – a collaborative project space where each exhibition is made by two women artists, who then select two more women artists to make the next exhibition.
Founder, organiser and artist, Natalie Tozer describes mothermother as “…a project space for both emerging artists and established artists who may (or may not) be represented by our good friends – the dealer galleries! The aim of the project is to offer space and opportunity to artists to collaborate or initiate work within the mothermother network. The inception of this project was two-pronged. At the time I was doing my MFA where 75% of my fellow students were women. I came to read Fiona Jack’s counterfutures article on the on-going issues of representation in the market and collections, to find the stats revealed 75% male representation.
The other reason I started this project was based on my research around collective modes of knowledge sharing and unearthing. Usually my unearthing is geologically based, but I also wanted to start a more conceptual and didactic journey about the ground. I started looking at grass-roots organisations with flat, non-hierarchial, anti-capitalist formations and I wondered what an anarchist syndicalist network would look like in the art world! It was then I decided the space I had the privilege to share should be for woman artists. I’m definitely a fan of exploring the murky grey space of complex issues but in this case the simplicity of 100% representation seemed like the right thing to do.
My role is to organise the projects curatorial function where exhibiting artists pass the baton by inviting the next artist into the collective. It’s an ever-expanding circle of caretakers that ensure space is available for future generations of the project. We’ve been going since mid 2019 and I cant wait to share the upcoming work!”
mothermother presented the work of all 18 “mothermother” artists in their 18 sq metre booth in He Iti – the section of the 2022 Art Fair for new galleries and artist-run spaces, on the mezzanine of The Cloud.
Natalie Tozer, Companion Pieces, 2021.
Caitlin Devoy, Power, 2021.
Sandra Bushby, Unknown Sea Lilly, 2021.