Don’t Stop, Keep Going (2016-19) by Joy C Martindale. Found fabrics, fishing netting, acrylic colour, cotton thread, string, snap hook, copper ferrules, stainless steel wire rope, long pad eye, Side 1. Artwork measures approx. 25 x 51 x 10 cm, installation dimensions variable.

Don’t Stop, Keep Going (2016-19) by Joy C Martindale. Found fabrics, fishing netting, acrylic colour, cotton thread, string, snap hook, copper ferrules, stainless steel wire rope, long pad eye, Side 2. Artwork measures approx. 25 x 51 x 10 cm, installation dimensions variable.

Don’t Stop, Keep Going was selected for Wells Art Contemporary, a leading open exhibition for international contemporary art.

Artwork Statement:

I can’t think straight – I’m losing it – my head is going to fall off – I can’t do this – I must do this – I’m a lousy mother – I’m tired – I feel dizzy – I need to be quiet – I can’t keep talking, talking, talking – I, I, I. Too many I’s – not enough I. I have to stop –just for a bit – get it together – let everything stop moving – whirling inside me.

How do I help myself get through this?

Whilst making “Don’t Stop, Keep Going”, I reflected on a serious and hard to admit to issue- the tightrope one can feel one is walking as a mother of young children, when exhaustion, sleep deprivation and the need for a break, however short, becomes overwhelming. That’s when abnormal notions begin to infiltrate – self doubts and idiotic thoughts that you wouldn’t be having if you could just get a bit more sleep and have a little time alone.

When my children first started school the exhaustion persisted and everything continued to feel like a crazy juggling act. I noticed that when I was very tired I could still work but that my approach was different – it was very much a case of head down and working obsessively on small, singular tasks. At first I thought this might be a problem but then, with this piece, I decided to work with it and channel those sensations of the mind and body short-circuiting, which were countered by the will to persevere, into the work.

Don’t Stop, Keep Going (2016-19) Detail, Joy C Martindale