Prácticas inconsistentes. En una segunda lengua me refugio

// Inconsistent practices: I take refuge in a second language

The simultaneous exercise of art and motherhood is a poorly understood topic. It is known that there is a space-time of resignation that leads to a competitive disadvantage, not only in academic or commercial terms, but also in relation to those “soft skills” that characterize the craft of art. Likewise, one must increase efforts fivefold to attend openings, conferences, conversations, ‘slams’, and laboratories, among other events about ‘making contemporary art’.

What I perceive as invisible is the transition period that motherhood implies, in which the practice is not affected by the space-time factor, but by the somatic changes that affect my psyche as a mother. These changes take time to settle, placing your mind in a schizophrenic period that oscillates between spaces of philosophical abstraction and among the most primary of being, such as feeding and cleaning the infant’s feces.

This period has repercussions on the practice itself, often being reflected in inconsistencies that are not related to artistic manifestations of the past, but rather to intimate explorations with a greater burden of subjectivity and vulnerability. It is worth saying that in a context where market practices seek more solid lines of research, the mother is not only left in a disadvantageous position, but also one linked to her thought production.

Macarena Rojas