It recently occurred to me that I should write about being a mother, or at the very least about becoming a mother. Because it is something learned, something you work at each day. We are given the title of ‘parent’ as soon as a child is born and that takes a while to sink in. Mum. Mother. I have almost forgotten what life was like without that title. I wrote about my life, fresh out of University, and settled into employment in a previous post ‘Being An Art Graduate’. I wear my new title with pride and a surprising amount of comfort now. 

The reality is I have quite a few titles… I’m a mother, photographer, knitter, printmaker and self-build van lover all moulded carefully together. Lots of people said that a lot of my ‘hobbies’ would cease to exist once I had a child, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Having Ruben has fuelled me to push my interests further. Since October 2016 (when Ruben was born), I have managed to:

• > become a contributor to stock photography company, Alamy. > approach a local café about taking photographs for their social networking sites (which never really came to fruit, unfortunately) > visit the Aberystwyth Printmakers workshop and begin initial ideas for a new body of work > open an online shop to sell handmade goods, with Etsy > raise a newborn into an almost-walking, sleeping, eating, happy baby.

We have made a pretty good team so far and it’s wonderful to look back and think he is content enough to allow me to photograph blackberries, for my stock photography, whilst he sits in the pushchair or keep himself entertained with his constant babbling, whilst I analyse work that sits under the umbrella of ‘radical craft’ or whizzes across the kitchen in his baby walker, whilst I knit newborn baby socks at our dining room table, to sell locally and online. 

Becoming a mother hasn’t changed anything, it’s enriching my life in more ways than I would have imagined.

Over + out.

harrietbaggley