Motherload
"Motherload" was the curated exhibition of the year at Deep Forest Art Land in 2018. The exhibition explored motherhood, family, care, and the relationships that bind people together through site-specific contemporary art created by artists from around the world. Although the exhibition was temporary, Motherload lives on at Deep Forest Art Land. Several of the works can still be experienced in the area, which continues to evolve with new artworks, plantings, and stories.
"The Skovsnogen Sculpture Park has been enriched by a physically fragile yet conceptually powerful exhibition on motherhood in its broadest sense." – Louise Steiwer, Nordic Art Journal.
"Motherload" was the name of the 2018 exhibition at Deep Forest Art Land. The exhibition was curated by Anna Margrethe Pedersen and Ditte Soria and featured artists from around the world.
The curators say the following about the exhibition:
“It is clear to us that the ‘mother’ does not have a fixed role, but that she appears at the center or on the periphery of just about everything. Motherhood constitutes a polyphonic and quite pervasive chorus of voices…”
The exhibition officially opened on September 8, 2018. More than 200 people attended, and on Anna Margrethe Pedersen’s platform, Mathias Kryger gave a thought-provoking performance, while Liv Sejrbo Lidegaard and Maria Hesselager gave readings.
In connection with the opening of Motherload, a book of the same title was also launched.
In addition to the participating artists, contributors to the book included Maria Hesselager, Liv Sejrbo Lidegaard, and Pernille Zidore Nygaard. Excerpts and reproductions of works were also kindly provided by Margaret Atwood, Judy Chicago, Elfriede Jelinek, the artists behind *The Birth of Venus*, Reba Maybury, LeRoy McDermott, and the critics Maggie Nelson, Else Marie Pedersen, and Amelie von Wulffen.
Photos, from left: *Homo Homo Sapiens* by Rasmys Myrup, *Untitled* by Michala Paludan, and a photo taken by Bertha Wegmann—*Young Mother with a Child in a Garden (Blake’s Laocoön)* by Rasmus Røhling.
Rasmus Myrup contributed the work *Homo Homo Sapiens (Paleolithic Partners)*, made of engraved glass. The work is accompanied by the text *Part of the Herd*. The following is an excerpt.
“The land stretched endlessly before them. Under the blue, gray, red, yellow, and black skies, shades of brown and green, along with bright glints of sunlight on the meandering waters, took turns filling Hee’s field of vision. Out where the land met the sky or the sky met the land, it all looked flat, but closer to Hee, the undulating, curving features of the landscape began to reveal themselves. Soft, rolling hills with low, lush, fresh, green fur covering the brown earth. It was this green that had led them here. Traversing the plains, they were following the herd of reindeer…”
"Motherload" is a temporary exhibition in the forest, and several of the works will gradually disappear. Therefore, it is not certain that all of the works will still be on view.
The exhibition is located in a clearing in the southern part of Deep Forest Art Land, bordered by four large banners at each corner of the world. The banners are called “Motherload Manifest” and were created by German artist Jonathan Meese.
There are two entrances to Motherload Park, and each entrance is adorned with two works that are diametrically opposed in their choice of materials: New Noveta, *Vanix Vrizoil* (performance trench), and Emma Sheridan, *Master Baby* statue in Portland stone.
Elsewhere, Rasmus Røhling’s work *Bertha Wegmann: Young Mother with a Child in a Garden (Blake’s Laocoön)* is displayed on a green, municipal-style park sign. The motif is cast in epoxy and appears semi-transparent, so that the reverse side evokes a graffiti drawing. The young mother has been given a text halo that begins with the words: “burn the fucking horse,” and the mother and child are enveloped by (perhaps) the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
Participating Artists
Kristine Kemp (DK)
Sara Deraedt (BE)
Hannah Heilmann (DK)
Mathias Kryger (DK)
Jonathan Meese (DE)
Rasmus Myrup (DK)
Saskia te Nicklin (AU)
Michala Paludan (DK)
Anna Margrethe Pedersen (DK)
Rasmus Røhling (DK)
Emma Sheridan (UK)
Ditte Soria (DK)
Lewis Teague Wright (UK)
New Noveta (UK)