Artwork Description
Swoon – Dawn and Gemma
Dimensions: 60 x 40″ finished size
Year: 2014
Medium: silkscreen and hand painting on paper and wood
Dawn and Gemma are a celebration of motherhood and connection. At a time when Swoon was confronting the loss of her own mother, while simultaneously dealing with not being taken care of by her mother, She had a surprise encounter with a long-lost friend, Dawn, who was then eight months pregnant. After the birth of Dawn’s child, Swoon bore witness to the caring way Dawn mothered her two children. These encounters were like a revelation about the existence of true nurturing. The two women would sit and talk while Dawn breastfed her new baby, leaving Swoon awestruck at the beauty and tenderness of the moment. As Swoon drew this portrait, she was able to contemplate the presence of a deeply loving, generative force that lives in everyone. Swoon is not only celebrating Dawn in particular, an old and dear friend since childhood, but also celebrating the mothering force that runs through the world.