I Like Mothering and Mothering Likes Me
2024
Documentation of Performance Piece

These images document a performance experimentation with my 2yo son. I positioned myself in the corner of an empty gallery, wrapped myself in a dark cloth, held a wicker broom up in the air, and sat still waiting for his interaction. He first ran around the gallery enjoying the sound of his echoing voice, then he began looking for me under the cloth, joining me underneath. Next, he returned to running back and forth, then running into me. Eventually, frustrated at my silence, he began trying to pull the fabric off of me. It was when I heard the sadness in his voice that I ended the performance and opened my arms to him.

The performance obviously references Joseph Beuys’ I Like America and America Likes Me, 1974. The correlations between my performance and Beuys’ are many, not least of which is the cohabitation with a wild coyote being similar to cohabitating with young children.