EP 03, Part I - Making Space for Art: How Katherine Duclos Transforms Everyday Objects of Motherhood into Artistic Practice
"There's a vulnerability that really good art has, that other people can look at it and say “I see myself in that.” And it serves as a mirror. And I think that when you're making work that is not personal, that is not about you, it's much harder to create that mirror for other people. And it was scary at first because my work had previously not been about me. And it felt like taking up space —like me saying my experience is valid of other people looking at it. And that felt very uncomfortable."
~ Katherine Duclos
In this episode, Kaitlin talks with Katherine Duclos. A New England native that Kaitlin has known since their high-school days, Katherine is a prolific artist who received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from Pratt Institute - Brooklyn, NY in 2012. She then moved with her family from New York City to Vancouver, BC where she maintains an active multi-media studio practice delving into concepts of motherhood, identity, neurodivergence, materiality, and more.
Katherine’s work is a reflection of her engagement with her family, environment, and her experience as a woman, as well as a response to materials she has found and collected. She has exhibited her work in Canada and the US and has worked as a teaching artist for organizations such as Studio in a School in New York City and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
In their conversation, Kaitlin and Katherine delved into the details of Katherine’s art, and specifically, how she has navigated art spaces (quite literally) since she became a mother. Her relationship to her artistic practice shifted with motherhood and now encompasses a broader purpose—because it is personal and connected to community.
Episode 3 is a 2-part installation, and in this first part, Katherine and Kaitlin talk about:
How Katherine has navigated her growth as an artist through the different phases of her life, especially the stark contrast between her life before and after motherhood.
What drove Katherine to start her Low Supply project, for which she made art using what she referred to as artifacts of breastfeeding. (Did you know breast pumps cannot be resold on Facebook? We didn’t!)
Katherine’s shifting art practice as her personal relationship to breastfeeding changes.
Capitalist society and the expectations on mothers to produce something meaningful, as well as the critical importance larger communities have on breastfeeding and early caregiving support.
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Find out more about Katherine and her art through:
Her website: katherineduclos.com
Her instagram: @katherineduclosrose
Related resources:
Check out Katherine’s Low Supply Project: https://www.katherineduclos.com/lowsupply
The Low Supply Project Statement: https://www.katherineduclos.com/lowsupplystatement
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, La Leche League https://www.llli.org/resources/womanly-art-breastfeeding/
To The New Mum Quietly Suffering From Breastfeeding Grief - Marternal Mental Health Awareness, HuffPost https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/holly-leppard/to-the-new-mum-quietly-su_b_16512266.html
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