In order to continue working, women artists have not only had to resist the external attitude that their lives are not the stuff of art, but at the same time deal with the pain and guilt of being torn in two (R. Power, The Divided Heart).

Four Squared is an exhibition by four artist-mothers and their experiences of making art amongst the chaos of raising young children. The experience of being a mother is also the subject of their art – what the artists describe as the push & pull of motherhood, domesticity and creativity. It is work created on an emotional rollercoaster, while burning the midnight oil, with the use of favors from friends, with the constant awareness of dishes to be washed.

Unknowingly, each artist has contributed to negating the burning question posed by poet Alice Ostriker – why has motherhood been ruled out as a valid theme of art? (It) is, after all, Ostriker continues, an immersion in the real stuff of life…a privileged position from which to encounter both the smallest, most nuanced interactions of daily life, and the most profound questions about the nature of existence.

The artists in Four Squared give us a glimpse into the real stuff of life.