Persistent Gifts
Borrowing from the words of young writer, Mailaka Aryeeboi: We come from the market women who built informal economies, from Queenmothers who safeguarded justice, from women who led protests and created the Ghana flag- countless unnamed women who held their communities together through care, resistance, and ingenuity. Indeed, they are our mothers- and we are the children who have continued after. When celebrating our mothers, we often think back to the woman who poured into us and continued to pour even with emptied barrels. I hope this exhibition guides your thoughts beyond the dedicated love of a remembered mother, engulfed thoroughly by her duty, to the later woman we depart(ed) from.
Across time, even the strongest mothers eventually confront the quiet grief of an emptying nest. As Michelle Obama reflects , “I have finished a really hard thing…(now) I’m an empty nester…this is a whole other phase in life for me.”
Persistent Gifts invites us to think through this intimate latter stage with Fauziya Fliege: ‘the nipping of the psychological umbilical cord’. For the first time, Fliege places her two painting styles in dialogue: abstract works with long, dancing strokes mimic the fleeting memories of early motherhood, while her figurative pieces capture the clarity of her present identity, entwined with Ghanaian heritage The masks and umbrellas installed are tactile gestures of introspection and shelter- coaxing you into participating with her story.
Fliege’s amassed body of work traces the maternal arc -inception, birth, nurturing and to this sudden departure- and she permits us to walk through her first-hand testament. The exhibition reflects on the intimate and universal realities of becoming, being, and ultimately releasing a child into the world. As O Boticário notes, this stage is widely felt yet rarely articulated. We ask you to think of mothers who have dedicated themselves, often beyond exhaustion, and who must now navigate the unexpected weight of this transition.
Whether from the position of a mother in this quiet transition, or as somebody’s child witnessing, consider your own position within these departures and consider the persistent, often hidden gifts of this necessary parting.
