After Seven, 2023

This image depicts the physical demands of motherhood. It shows how I often sit at night after a long day of giving myself over to my child. Once the baby is in bed, all his needs having been met for the day, I fold my body up and reclaim it as my own. Hugging my knees into my chest is a protective, self-soothing act. I make myself small again, betraying a secret wish to be the child instead of the caregiver. Cropping the image tightly, I’ve sought to emphasise the experience of entrapment. Confinement isn’t just about the physical and psychological demands of mothering; parenting narratives seem to be stuck in the binary language of joy versus resentment, or gratitude versus regret, which does not reflect my own experience.

Lucy Fahey completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at RMIT University in Melbourne, graduating with honors. Lucy Fahey has exhibited work in galleries around Australia and created work on commission for public institutions and private clients. Lucy Fahey was a recipient of an Australia Council Artstart grant in 2010, awarded a State Library of Victoria creative fellowship in 2011, and more recently was a finalist in the 2022 Geelong Contemporary Art Prize, the 2021 National Emerging Art Prize, the 2019 Ravenswood Art Prize, and 2019 Milburn Art Prize. Her work has been acquired by the State Library of Victoria and Museum Victoria.