As Susan Ruben Solomon wrote, perhaps the greatest struggle for a woman artist who has or desires children, is the struggle against herself. No amount of money, no amount of structural change can entirely resolve the fundamental dilemma for the artists mother, the seeming incompatibility of her two greatest passions. The effect is a divided heart, a split self, the fear that to succeed at one means to fail at the other.
Rachel Power is a freelance writer, editor, and artist, and mother of 2 from Melbourne, Australia. She has contributed to many publications including Mamma Mia, The Big Issue, Kill Your Darlings and The Age. She has worked as a court illustrator for Channel Nine, production editor of Arena Magazine, and is currently communications manager for the Australian Education Union Victoria.
Rachel is the author of Alison Raffish - A life for Art, The Divided Heart, Art and Motherhood and Motherhood in Creativity. After having Rachel's second book, The Divided Heart recommended to me from a number of guests on this podcast, I frantically tracked down the book and read it and was blown away. I was intrigued to meet the woman behind the stories that had resonated with myself and so many others. I reached out to Rachel and she was generous enough to give me this time. Rachel is a mother of two. And in this chat we talk not only about her books, but the challenges she faced in making them. The divided heart is a collection of interviews with artistic mothers, including musician Clare Bowditch and actress Rachel Griffith. Rachel's interviewees had such diverse experiences when combining motherhood and art making.
Rachel’s book “The Divided Heart: Art and Motherhood”, has suported and inspired so many of my previous guests, and I just had to speak to the woman behind the book.
We chat about the book, why motherhood absolutely has to change you, the importance of having your sense of experience validated, why mothers are shamed for sharing their struggles and negative experiences, and breaking the patriarchal stereotypes around the way artists create.
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Quotes spoken throughout this episode are taken from Rachel's book 'The Divided Heart - Art and Motherhood'
.Music used with permission from Alemjo., Aussie new age and ambient music trio.
When chatting to my guests I greatly appreciate their openness and honestly in sharing their stories. If at any stage their information is found to be incorrect, the podcast bears no responsibility for my guests' inaccuracies.
