My school friend Lenka was always an artist, even when we met on the bus aged 12. I’ve written here before about some of her work, including a documentary about people who ‘own’ land on the moon, and a project sending anonymous letters to a whole town. But now she has made some art out of a very personal subject. Motherhood.

Lenka went to live in America with her husband, also an artist, and since the birth of her first child has been creating Residency in Motherhood. Acting as a kind of artist-in-residence in her own home, she is making work that sometimes involves being a mother, and documenting her days in the studio. One project involved documenting objects found in babies’ mouths…

This project involved resending vintage postcards to their original recipients.

In another piece, Mothers’ Days, she painstakingly documents the ins and outs of a day in the life of various new mothers, on an old typewriter. Her work has always involved documenting objects and banal occurrences, and it is fascinating to see her applying an artist’s sensibility to her life as a mother. It’s inspiring to anyone at home with a new baby, full of new ways of seeing and recording your daily lives together. And as someone with no children, but who is just starting to work at home, it’s inspiring too.

This video looks like nothing much is happening. It’s called A Nice Family Portrait though, and the struggle to hold the baby makes it wry and engaging.

Also check out her Inspiration page, full of images she’s had in mind during the project, including this one.

The website announces that Lenka’s second child was born on the 20th of this month, so congratulations. It states that her residency has been extended accordingly. x