Press Release

Fruits of Labor:
Reframing Motherhoodand Artmaking

apexart - nycCurated by Bruna Shapira

On view:
November 3 - December 23
Tues. - Sat., 11am - 6pm
Opening Reception: November 3, 4 - 6pm EST

Ashley January, She was given agency in the process and survived, 2021

Location:
291 Church Street, NYC, and 3D Online
Featuring work by:
Ahna Serendren - Anna Maria Maiolino - Ashley January - Gabriela Vaisencher - Graziela
Kunsch - Katya Meykson - Koyoltzintli - Sara Shaoul
Fruits of Labor — Reframing Motherhood and Artmaking brings together women artists unpacking thevastly personal yet universal experience of mothering. Encompassing painting, sculpture, video, installation,
photography and text-based work, the exhibition evokes motherhood thematically, but also explores thecountless tangential ways in which this subject appears in artists’ practice, as a mode of work and being.
The works on view underscore the particular rhythms and constraints of life with children -– the interrupted andfragmented focus, the nap-length studio time, the limited resources, the “elastic” time, one that both drags onand moves frantically — and how this rhythm unfolds into creative practice.
Working from the deep trenches of early motherhood, these artists call for a shift in the paradigms of creating
art, mostly in the domestic space, challenging the idea of the “solitary artist” echoed throughout Art History.
Doing so, they make a compelling argument: it is not motherhood that is in conflict with artmaking but theprevailing narratives defining both caregiving and artistic expression. This is emphasized by systemic issues
affecting women, particularly in the US, where public policies to support mothers are virtually nonexistent.

Fruits of Labor — Reframing Motherhood and Artmaking Is an apexart NYC Open Call Exhibition. For more
information on the exhibition and related events, email visit apexart.org/davis.php or email ash.hagerstrand@
apexart.org.

Bruna Shapira is a curator and project manager. She owns Supernova Projects, a bespoke art firm that works at the intersection ofart, education and enterprise. In her 15+ years career, she worked in New York leading museums and galleries and had an awardwinning Journalism career in Brazil.
apexart’s program supporters past and present include the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, the Kettering Family Foundation,
the National Endowment for the Arts, the Buhl Foundation,Bloomberg Philanthropies, Spencer Brownstone, the Kenneth A. Cowin
Foundation, Epstein Teicher Philanthropies, The Greenwich Collection Ltd., William Talbott Hillman Foundation/Affirmation Arts Fund,the Fifth Floor Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts,
and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, public funds from CreativeEngagement, supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administeredby LMCC, funds from NYSCA Electronic Media/Film in Partnership with Wave Farm: Media Arts Assistance Fund, with the support ofGovernor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support ofthe New York State Legislature.

#FruitsofLabor

291 church street, new york, ny 10013
t +1 212 431 5270 www.apexart.org