If you or anyone you know is in Tauranga over the next few weeks go and take a look at this exhibition at The Laundromat Art Project Space.

The exhibition will run from 18^th March 2010 – 6^th April 2010

War 
Installation

‘Aces in the sky, Spitfire and Hurricane,  Fokke-Wulf and Messcherschmidt.

The defining battle of one generation in the western world and we called it a world war.

Vietnam another generation. And the cold war. Goodies and Baddies. Black hats and White. Right and wrong always relative and perspective dependent.

So far its always been just one lot of people vs another lot; battles of willpower, tenacity, inventiveness and technology. There are individual triumphs and tragedies, strategic gains and losses, but it has been the overall massed effect that prevails, numbers, commitment, sacrifice, leadership, working together for a common goal, Oh and maybe some luck? How much have we been prepared to lose to gain victory?

Now its global more than ever, the sides are less defined but the stakes are very high. We could call it the earth war.

 

There are no sidelines, we just think there are.  Our actions are cumulative.

 

Its all of us, but most are sleepers.’

 

- Susan Crow (nee Pickernell)

Recently a couple of other mummy friends commented to me that they needed to ‘return to’ or ‘go to work’ because of their ‘brains’. Now, we all have to make whatever choices we think are best for ourselves and our families, and I respect that. However, I don’t think that caring for your baby automatically results in the deterioration of your brain and your thinking abilities, but the prevailing attitudes around ‘stay at home mums’ would suggest it does indeed pose serious risk to your ability to survive in the adult world.

I take exception to the idea that some women must work to preserve their brains partly because I wonder, ‘So, do they think that I’m wasting my brain, or that I have a lesser brain because I decided to care for my baby for her early years??’ I actually have a very good brain. I have worked really hard and been paid for it, (unlike in my new role as Mother) travelled, and participated in important projects, I have a degree. Now, I read and do research any chance I get – and I don’t think I’m wasting ‘my brain’ while I care for Luna, in fact, she teaches me SO much and I’m happy I’m not missing it.

We totally undervalue ourselves – and each other – as mothers and the most important role we play in the nurturing and support we give our babies and children as they grow, these early years are just so important and fly by so fast!