Parental Overwhelm

Too often parenthood, when it is shown in art, is shown as an idealised time, with cute children, pregnant, expectant mothers, or fun family experiences, there is little room it seems for portraying the other side of being a parent, probably because no one wants to admit that sometimes, despite your love of these small people, it can be difficult and overloading on a sensory and mental level. Parental Overwhelm is a video and sound piece that explores the mental overwhelm that occurs daily (and occasionally, more often) when parenting small people.  There is a strange triality between being completely in love with these gorgeous little people and enjoying their early years and cute personalities but finding it exhausting dealing with constant questions, mood swings, nonstop energy and general parenting duties, and the repetitive rigmarole and drudgery of daily life.  By creating a textured soundscape of a six-minute period with my two-year-old daughter and then pairing it with a multi-layered video of the reality of parenting small people (cute dances, repetition, invasion of personal space, etc).  The distortion and discordant nature of the separate pieces playing together is representative of when you are feeling completely overwhelmed as a parent and dealing with feelings of guilt, love, and exhaustion simultaneously.