Judith Darragh

“Mother of all Mothers.

As we watched George Floyd take his last breaths on camera, as a police officer kneeled on his neck, he spoke. He said, "I can't breathe," and then he called out for his mother. He sputtered out "Mama" with some of his last breaths. Then he lay still forever.

Larissa Marulli 

moms.com

When my son was born 23 years ago my life was flung into the air and landed in new configurations, everything was different. I experienced the invisibility of mothers who disappear into routines and nurturing. My new art project was pouring creativity into my son, I made 16 mm films of him in his pram, I made him Elvis outfits, Darth Vader and Thunderbird costumes, it was joyous and liberating. The making of “art” was sporadic, on the kitchen table, frantic and fast ! 

Memories of my own mother appeared, in particular her leaving to go to her monthly meeting of The League of Mothers, dressed up, it was a night off.  This inspired the series of embroidered  mothers’ badges which I gave to my mother friends.

As artists and mothers, it became too hard to go to the regular gallery openings - at 6.00pm the worst time for kids, so we stayed home and cooked.  The cOOks  project was an evening where we as mothers and creatives gathered for a meal cooked for us. 

I’m keen on artists supporting artists, having been involved in Teststrip and Cuckoo, spaces  where community is valued, and artists are placed at the centre, art gets hijacked by curation, institutional thinking and language. I work in an ‘arts industry ‘, in an industry the worker gets paid, artists don’t get paid. I see the inequality of women’s art practise represented in  galleries, collections, sales, auction houses  oddly out of proportion when 80% of arts students at universities are female.

The mothermother project is about artists autonomy, letting work converse in an open non curated space. Artists are supported and like a relay, the baton is passed in trust. 

I handed the baton to Teresa Maria who I was regularly visiting at her studio, she was making organic forms from clay referencing the body and archaeology, emphasising the hand as the maker and tool. Multiple forms crowded the small studio, punctuated by flashes of fluorescent pink and gold, talismans, shrines. We talked about materiality, colour art, feminism……

Judy Darragh x mothermother 2020

Judy Darragh uses found objects to create sculptural assemblages. Utlising domestic objects, industrial off cuts or safety equipment her work is a golden shrine of irony, bringing high and low, art and craft together in unholy matrimony.

Alongside her sculptural, painting and film work Judy also supports collectivism and questions process and practice in our creative institutions. In 1992 Darragh was one of eight artists who founded the artist-run space Teststrip in Auckland. She then went on to start Cuckoo, an artist-run project based in Auckland that was described as 'the artist-run space without a space' with four other artists in 2000. In 2020 Judy was a founder of Art Makers Aotearoa to champion the arts during the Covid rebuild, and also in the 2020 Queens Birthday Honours, Judy was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the arts.

Judy Darragh is represented by Two Rooms Gallery in Auckland.