Nest, Rest, Shadows explores the surreal and embodied dimensions of motherhood and caregiving, translating its unseen experiences into material form through participatory engagement. Exhibited at OCAD University Grad Gallery, Toronto, the project examines caregiving as an imprint—a gesture that lingers beyond the moment of touch, existing between presence and absence, resilience and exhaustion. The work engages with rest as a radical act, challenging the relentless demands of caregiving and reframing maternal experiences as an assertion of agency rather than passive nurturing. Clay, with its capacity to hold traces of touch, serves as both a vessel of memory and an ephemeral archive of care. The recurring motif of the clenched fist embodies both protection and defiance, blurring distinctions between intimacy and isolation, tenderness and endurance. Through audience participation, the work creates a shifting landscape of gestures, each imprint contributing to a shared dialogue on care, loss, and resilience. Nest, Rest, Shadows asserts that caregiving is not only an act of service but a force that transforms space, memory, and identity, imprinting itself on both the body and collective consciousness.
Keywords: caregiving, maternal, participatory, rest, memory, resilience, performance