Claudia Phares
What was your first experience or exposure to an artwork? What effect did it have upon you?
I grew up in an ethnically diverse family in Montreal, Canada surrounded by an eclectic array of artworks. Subconsciously, I developed a taste for the latter.
My mother is Vietnamese and we had various Vietnamese artworks such as lacquered frames with gold leaves inserts or mother of pearls inserts.
My father is Egyptian and, in the same space were copper plates hanging on the walls with an image of the bust of the queen Nefertiti and the other of the pharaoh, Ramses II. In the living room were 3 poster-sized candid portraits of my sisters and I. My dad took these with his analogue f35 mm Nikon F3.
These artworks symbolised growing up as second generation Canadian. In hindsight, it was probably my parents’ effort in staying connected to their culture and country of origin and sharing their proud heritage with their children.
For all of this I am proud.
What was the first artwork that you considered to be truly an artwork that you made?
My first artwork was a portrait of an elderly woman who was visiting my host family in Ecuador, in 1997. I had my father’s Nikon F3 and shot it on film. I was volunteering at the time and by then, I was already interested in photography and documenting the life around me.
Whom do you consider to be an inspiration to your practice?
Marina Abramović for her ascetism and discipline. Cindy Sherman for her versatility in role playing/staging. Sally Mann for her ability to convey an eeriness in her photography. Andrea Zittel for her creative and innovative self-sufficiency. My maternal grandmother who is still living in Montreal has been a woman of multiple skills and talents. She spoke French, English & Vietnamese, was a working mother, trained as a nurse’s aide, a world trotter who could knit, crochet, sew and cook amazingly!
What are your goals of combining artmaking and the parental role to create work that is so personal?
Being an artist and a mother have reinforced my overall practice and modus operandi.
I strive to frame the way I live and I raise my children using a matricentric lens. My personal life-changing experiences influence my art practice and give me a problem to solve.
What is your art making routine?
I’d like to think I’m making art all the time!
Facing life’s unpredictability is art in itself. Cooking is experimenting. Exercising is performance. Raising children is improvisation on repeat. Where I work depends on the project I’m working on.
At the moment, I work from home, on the kitchen table or in my garage.
Otherwise, I step out to use special equipment such as a darkroom, a workshop, etc. I don’t have a proper routine but I work best with deadlines. I definitely need regular headspace to create and process. It’s challenging with young children as a single mom.
Your work, “Mother” had the significant absence of “child” or an object representing “the child”. What would you advise a child (or children) about parenthood?
The MOTHER sandbag installation alludes to the work entailed in mothering a child.
Parenthood is both rewarding and confronting. You’re not born a parent. Your upbringing will shape you as a parent. It helps to be adaptable when you parent and to understand your limitations while doing what feels right for you and your children.
There’s a perversity in using a body part (the hand and arm) to create work that eventually represents the same body part as excised -I’d consider this to be analogous to Mike Parr’s bloody body work. Yet your work is ascetic in its cleanliness and control. Why did you choose this clinical tone, not so evident in your previous work?
Death, dying and vulnerability are identifiable and relatable. After becoming a mother and realising I lost my sense of control, I worked out my frustration through the minimalist controlled creative outcomes.
The performance you allude to affiliated to the artwork I am where I am, 2018 was about self-sufficiency and the contained mobile structure. I controlled my possessions and choose when to move about.
With the arm sculpture, the sense of control is conveyed in the posture of the arm and the multiple replicates of quasi identical pieces. The arms are made out of wax which is a malleable material, that registers imperfections. Just as the body is and the mother. Imperfect in a good way.
Claudie Phares; MOTHER 2019 dimensions variable, sandbags, video still, video , wax.
What was the most surprising reaction you have had to your work?
Someone visiting from Brazil came up to me with tears in their eyes, feeling moved by the MOTHER sandbag installation. They gave me a hug. ~
Cover Image : Claudie Phares; Film still, Revolutionary Mother (2019)
