my year at home is a 12-piece series of oil paintings about maternal ambivalence.
In an attempt to capture the ephemeral, I’ve chronicled the year in which I stepped into the role as a mother, both socially and psychologically.
The characters represented in this series are ethereal, but also show signs of apathy, paranoia, and resignation. The soft, curled up body can be at times peaceful and defensive. There is a wholeness and stability within the figure, often seen nurturing small humans. This resting pose portrays intimacy while seeking autonomy. The perspective is destabilized, further inviting the viewer inside.
There is a tension at play here…one between comfort and exotic, imagined and real. The idyllic images of motherhood, perpetuated by a society desperate for certainty, clash violently with the raw, messy truth.
Painting MYAH was a way to transcend the moral obligations of everyday life. The discovery that creating life doesn’t give meaning to your own. But mostly I wanted to show women tortured by the contradictory nature of social expectations.
a short film about the making of my year at home by Alison Michaela
studies 8 in. x 10 in. series of micro oil paintings about the repetitive nature of nurture.
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