Our family went art crawling yesterday, and my boys even took part in a few collaborative art projects.
If the point of art is to evoke emotion, my favorite piece yesterday was something I am very familiar with.
My husband took the gallery tour through all of the rooms and hallways first, and when he came out he told me “turn into the first room on your left and you’ll see an image of a little tiny chair with a video being projected onto it.”
I was intrigued- what would I find on this little chair?
My husband knows me so well, and knew I would love what I saw.
“The Early Chair” by Brooke Gassiot was the name of this installation, and it was a loop of a mother and baby, dressed in white, sitting on a white chair. It moves through phases of holding the baby, nursing the baby, and patting the baby’s back.
It was beautiful. Any breastfeeding mom knows so well those early months with a newborn when you feel completely tethered to your nursing chair.
We sometimes feel as if it’s not very beautiful at all. Especially when you’re tired, hungry, thirsty, in need of a shower, a nap, a new wardrobe, a new chair, and the list goes on.
But it is beautiful. And it is art.
Artists who depict breastfeeding, keep it coming. The more everyone is exposed to it, the more natural it will become and the more accepted and less self conscious breastfeeding moms will feel. And then hopefully we won’t have to hear ignorant comments like the one I heard from the 30 something year old guy in front of me who briefly watched the video and said, “I don’t need to see that.”
Really? Why not? No really- Why not? The more I think about it, the more I want to get on my soap box and wish I had asked him then and there. So I’ll take a deep breath and let my blood pressure simmer down. (After I heard him I made a big deal of saying loudly how beautiful and amazing the installation was. Mature? no. Did I get my point across? I hope so.)
We saw this renaissance painting earlier in the week, aptly named “Charity.”
Thank you Jacques Blanchard for glorifying breastfeeding in the 1600s. And thank you, Brooke Gassiot for showcasing a nursing mom in 2013.