The Divided Heart: Art and Motherhood

reviewer: Felicity Chapman

month entered: 08/2006

author: Rachel Power

year of publication: 2008

review:

Whether it’s in the quiet corner of a private room or stealing moments in a public space, Rachel Power’s gentle but incisive interviewing skills take you on an unbridled journey into the world of the artist-mother. The innermost thoughts from some of Australia’s most respected artists, writers and actors convey a sense of feeling both constricted and enlivened by motherhood. The Divided Heart depicts the struggle for two loves — art and motherhood — to be embraced with uncompromising passion. This book is a must read for anyone who has experienced domestic life as a stifling presence in the palaces of the mind, and creative urge as a delectable yet all-consuming vortex. I am not an artist, but there is a language of creativity that has been articulated for me, and a profoundness of motherhood underscored.

 

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