Unwrapping The Gift

Tonight is the first time in 18 days I have found a quiet moment to write. This separation between myself and my practice (as of from a lover) has been created through various circumstances involving children, illness, and my partners new day job. The terrifying vacuum this has created in terms of the absence of my Self from the dialogue I was beginning to create became so problematic for me this week I began to feel I was in some sort of domestic prison, deprived of all free creative thought not associated with the private realm of family life. Its only today I am human again, after throwing a party for the Iranian New year, and realising that social connection with those who i have an emotional relationship with is what keeps me sane and draws me out of the mundane. This may also explain the unfolding nature of my artwork, the drive to create pieces that offer participation on a mass scale. It is obviously a need I have, both as an artist and a human being. It occurs to me today that, far from hiding the problems associated with being both artist and now mother of two, I need to recognise this tension and dilemma as an energy that informs and shapes what I do and attempt to work with it as positively as i can.