This American artist, Hein Koh posted an old image to her Instagram page this week of her tandem-breastfeeding her five-week-old twins while working away on her laptop.
The post, which was a response to an article in the Guardian in which another artist, Marina Abramovic admitted she had three abortions to avoid sacrificing her talent for children.
In a retort, Hein Koh wants mums to know that motherhood doesn’t have to be the end of creative life. She penned a heartfelt message to other mums to encourage them:
“What I am saying is that parenting is like any other challenge in life – the biggest fucking challenge in my own life thus far – and if you embrace it and figure out creative solutions, you can emerge a better person. It’s important to think about the ways in which these challenges can help you move forward, rather than hold you back.”
The full post is just lovely:
She posted an old image (her twins are now 17 months) this week entitled ‘multi-tasking’ assuming other mum friends and fans would find it funny, but she had no idea the image would go viral and cause such a huge reaction, women everywhere are hailing her a momboss, a hero, high-fiving her creativity, her encouragement, empowering women to embrace motherhood and work without losing their creative edge, and in managing to tandem breastfeed and manoeuvring a laptop at once (huge high-fives for that alone, we say!).
In an interview with Today, she explained:
“I understood where she was coming from…it’s a prevalent view in the art world — but I’m sick of all this prejudice towards motherhood in the art world,” Koh told TODAY Parents. “People just assume you won’t be as committed — that because your attention is divided between family and career, then you’re just not as committed of an artist.”
“I think they appreciated my words — a positive message about how you don’t have to give up on your dreams when you become a mom, that challenges can actually make you a better person and better at what you do,” Koh said. “I think the photo and my message celebrated…the kinds of heroic things that moms do in private, just trying to keep up with our own lives. Every mom is a heroine in that sense.”
Every working mum knows how hard it is to juggle the stress of working and being a mum, so we applaud Koh’s approach, just because you work and embrace motherhood, doesn’t mean you are any less committed to either. Aim for the sky, mamas!
Some of Koh’s cool art:
Tell us what you think, does motherhood hold you back creatively, or can you apply your creativity to motherhood and feel just as fulfilled? Comment below or email us: editorial@HerFamily.ie.
