The Foremothers Project: How it began
The Foremothers Project Gallery: Collage, Painting, Stories represents the creative work that I began during the year 2020. In March of that year we all went on lockdown due to a rapidly spreading and largely mysterious virus. Coincidentally, after teaching art for forty years, I stepped away from public education that June. Initially, I became curious about my ancestors and started studying photos of my grandmothers and great aunts, strong women who had endured much hardship in their lives. To augment this visual record I began researching my family history on Ancestry.Com thanks to the open access provided by Curtis Library. Through this family research I found documents detailing aspects of my family story I had not known before.
The global pandemic as an opportunity for deep connection
As I began researching my foremothers I drew inspiration from their courage, humor, and sacrifices.Regardless of the particulars, I know that most if not all our families have lived through struggles and hardships, both personal and circumstantial. Importantly, I learned that we can all feel more connected to our ancestors by taking time to remember them and reflect on their lives.
My foremothers and their stories are not forgotten
Remembering the stories of our foremothers can be a source of strength in the present moment. Tenderly, I can see how the tragedies of the past impacted my parents as they raised their five children under modest circumstances. As an example, my mother carried the burden of losing her mother to a ravaging autoimmune disease while becoming a mother herself. Most shockingly, I came to understand that my mother’s terrible loss at age fifteen occurred a mere seven years before my birth.
I share this brief anecdote about my mother,as just one example of the losses and struggles on her side of my family. Indeed, other traumatic events and circumstances impacted her family including periods of poverty, experiences of anti-semitism, and the challenge of living through the Second World War. So why, you may ask, is important to remember and reflect on the past? Well, for one thing, we all need large doses of courage, resilience, and determination to face the unexpected in our own lives. And importantly, as we raise our collective voices to speak out against cruelty and injustice, we need to draw our strength from somewhere. I am suggesting that our ancestors and their stories of survival and determination can be sources of strength in the present moment.
Stories of our Foremothers–Read more and visit my blog
Check out my blog to read more: https://robinbrooksart.com//wp-admin/post.php?post=3267&action=edit Interestingly, this project came to include stories of my spiritual and creative foremothers as well as biological relatives. And I also gathered stories from friends and acquaintances. . Here is a link to an interview I gave about the Foremothers Project: https://robinbrooksart.com//robin-is-interviewed-by-keith-spiro/
Our Foremothers: An invitation to reflect
This is an invitation for all of us to reflect on the past and come together to heal the present. Please reach out if you would like to share a Foremothers story of your own.
The Foremothers Project received partial funding support from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency
supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
