Elissa invites her readers to rethink their relationship to care, and how we talk about it.  Care is often described as drudgery work, best outsourced to those less privileged than us so we can focus on careers and creative endeavors. Elissa invites us to reconsider this relationship, and to recognize how care is at the center of the human experience. What would the world look like if we were concerned about developing our ability to take care? If we recognize how it brings meaning to our lives, and how challenging it is spiritually and intellectually?

In a world where motherhood is often romanticized or depicted in one-dimensional terms, prioritizing the expected needs of the child, Jones provides with Matrescence an honest exploration of the profound transformation that occurs when a woman becomes a mother. This life event often comes as a shock and a painful experience, despite the many joys that brings a child into a family, accompanied by a loss of self and self-sacrifice; in this book, Jones aimed to ‘untangle these punishing feelings’. She beautifully articulates how matrescence—the birth of a mother—is a journey as significant as the birth of a child, and one that deserves more attention and understanding.

The story is a novel written as a journal, a memoir, a long essay but also an experiment written as a dialogue with I Ching, a divination system. Originating from China thousands of years ago, I Ching is used to find guidance with questions that can only be answered by yes or no. To have or not to have a child In this format, the author questions her future, her fate, what she ‘should’ do. As if going against society’s current view on the ‘natural’ choice of motherhood for a woman was so difficult that it needed to be dictated by a higher power.

One of the most compelling aspects of Milkyways is Henrot's delving into the physicality of creation, drawing connections between the act of giving birth and the act of making art. Her reflections on the body, both as a mother and an artist, are particularly poignant. She discusses the transformation of the body during pregnancy and the postpartum period, highlighting the ways in which these changes influence her artistic practice. She affirms the body as both a vessel for life and a medium.

““It is ultimately character that underwrites art. The quality of art can only reflect the quality and range of a person’s sensitivity, intellect, perception, and experience. [...] Sometimes artists use their work for ends that have nothing to do with art, placing it rather at the service of their ambitions for themselves in the world. “

Two simple questions to ask yourself to set the year in motion.

We highly enjoyed reading Pooja Lakshmin, a psychiatrist who specialized in maternal mental health, on self-care as principles that can be practiced throughout life, instead of the trendy and often costly solutions usually proposed in this area.

We highly enjoyed reading Pooja Lakshmin, a psychiatrist who specialized in maternal mental health, on self-care as principles that can be practiced throughout life, instead of the trendy and often costly solutions usually proposed in this area.