A SINGLE MOTHER ARTISTS’ MOANIFESTO
We are willing, capable and have potential beyond our means.
We are tired of feeling undeserving: of space, of time, of money, of value.
We want to highlight the structural biases of capitalism and patriarchy.
We should be visible, welcomed, and celebrated in society.
We don’t want to contain more - we do not want additional burdens; we want to have some fun and be playful!
We are single mother artists who have the drive but need a community around them to back them, and to give back to.
We wish to build a sisterhood through establishing this forum for us, and you, other single (m)other artists who want to share knowledge, support and just be there for one another.
Can our insights into how the art world is failing us help to make it a more inclusive space not just for us, but for others facing parallel struggles, or even for everyone?
Please answer the following questions:
Have you ever cried down the phone to a staff member of the DWP, or sobbed as a little treat?
Have you ever failed to apply for something due to lack of childcare and/or other resources?
Have you ever worked into the night and still got the kids to school on time the next morning?
Do you crave the time to get to the bottom of your washing basket?
Do you, or have you ever worked in a non-art related job to make ends meet?
Have you been asked about your partner, assuming that you have one?
Has someone asked what your partner does for a living, assuming he is the main breadwinner?
Do you have a rising sense of fury when someone says “I couldn’t do what you do?” or “I just don’t know how you do it all!”
Do you often wonder how you actually manage to achieve so much on your own?
Have you through necessity, excelled in your time management and resourcefulness?
Are you tired of having to continuously speak up and ask for inclusion on behalf of yourself and your children?
Have you ever gone to bed hungry and/or cold?
Are you tired of being told you are strong instead of being offered support?
Have your children ever missed out on things that other children experience?
Have your children had positive experiences that other children of two parent families haven’t?
Are you frustrated at being offered limited support that is not actually needed or wanted?
Are you exhausted by trying to be a financial expert?
Are you tired of fighting a benefit system that doesn’t accommodate freelancers?
Do you feel as a parent you are raising children that are critical thinkers and advocates for change?
Have you ever attended a panel discussion on being a mother artist, and not felt represented?
If you have answered yes to some of these questions then we suspect you are also a single mother artist and would benefit from being part of our community!
We invite you to reflect upon and respond to our questions by clicking on the button below and signing our moanifesto.
Co-developed by Anna Oldfield, Ell Sinclair, Jessica Timmis, Lauren McLaughlin, Leni Dothan and Medina Mukhayer.
Moanifesto is the outcome of a collaborative practice-research project carried out in 2022-2023 with six artists who are single mothers. We developed our ‘moanifesto’ in late 2022 through weekly online discussions where we shared our hopes, dreams and challenges with one another around our shared experiences of being artists and single parents. We decided to use the term ‘moanifesto’ as a humorous and tactical move to reclaim our power when so often we are told that we are “moaning”. Our aim was to create something that made visible our shared challenges but also made room for our individual voices.
This project was made possible thanks to seed funding received from Magnetic North Theatre Company in 2022. We hope to develop the project further once we have more funding in place to do so.