Post Partum

A series of paintings about how we are all utterly responsible for our immediate surroundings, which to me is an equally humbling as terrifying revelation.

It is also an ode to all parents who sometimes feel like failures or have ever been upset with their kids.

When my partner and I emerged from the hospital with our firstborn we figured we better get into a cab and disappear as fast as possible, before the grown-ups would come and take the baby away from us. Surely they wouldn’t let us just take a newborn with us to feed and play with to the best of our abilities? As absurd as it felt, we managed to keep that tiny meatloaf alive..

A couple years later I was digging in the dirt and found a huge toad, I was a hairs width away from cutting it in half with the spade, and as I picked her up to make sure she wasn’t hurt I had that same feeling of acute vulnerability that I had experienced outside of the hospital a few years earlier. We are all utterly responsible for our immediate surroundings, which to me is an equally humbling as terrifying revelation.

Some of these paintings are still available for purchase. Please contact me directly at emmaekstam(@)gmail.com for more images and details.