Matrescence Performance Repetitions: towards “letting go”

In this article we explore the work of artists engaging with matrescence to consider the (im)possibility of repetition in maternal art making and performance. We are keen to think through matrescence and artmaking processes together towards an eventual ‘letting go’ as both the mothers and the children move into a new life stage. We draw on the work of Young, Iris Marion [2005. On Female Body Experience: Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays. USA: Oxford University Press] to introduce concepts around the home, Halberstam, J. [2011. The Queer Art of Failure. London: Duke University Press] to examine the notion of futurity, repetition and return, and apply a psychoanalytical framing, in particular, the work of Ferenczi, Sándor [1988. “Confusion of Tongues between Adults and the Child.” Contemporary Psychoanalysis 24 (2): 196–206. doi:10.1080/00107530.1988.10746234]. We consider two contemporary shows – GOO:GA (Ballou, Hannah. 2021. GOO:GA (film)) by Hannah Ballou and the 2021 video re-working of Tender (Long, Josie. 2019. Tender (performance)) by Josie Long. In order to aid our engagement with the matrescence in various media representations,we also re-think certain historical examples of maternal creativity and artmaking including both our own and those of renowned women artists Susan Hiller, Mary Kelly and Bobby Baker