my moon, 2022 (Video Still)

00:07:14

Thinking through care work and my own lived experience of becoming a mother, My Moon is a beaded animation that visually depicts ‘a bead, a breath,’ a beaded stop motion animation. Combining two extremely slow practices, beading and stop-motion, to contemplate my lived experience of being an anxious new parent. When my son was born I was, as I imagine many mothers are, nervous and anxious about keeping him alive. I was constantly checking in on him, making sure he was breathing, monitoring his breath, and asking myself endless questions about his health and safety. I think this speaks to becoming a new parent but also to the anxieties that COVID-19 instilled in all of us (as well as the RSV cases that have been rampant across the nation). My Moon is a piece I made to cope with these anxieties. I would often record my son's breath while he was sleeping, listening to it and thinking how it changed from last week. This anxious practice was something I wanted to embrace and celebrate, especially as I grew more comfortable in my new mothering role. My Moon is a meditation on this time in my life, where finding the time to make art was difficult but by working in beaded animation, which is an incredibly slow practice, I was able to make this piece in between feedings and while my son was sleeping on me.

Soundscape by: Jessie Beier