A Woman’s Role
| Exhibition | Location | Dates |
| A Woman’s Role | Tallyn’s Reach Library 23911 Arapahoe Rd. Aurora, CO 80016 | April 2nd – May 31st 2025 M-F 10 am-6 pm |
Artist Statement
Motherhood has profoundly transformed my artistic purpose. My work focuses on the human form and spirit. Creating art that reflects the authentic experiences of motherhood and supports mental health healing has become a central theme. I am passionate about translating personal memories and emotions into pieces that resonate with a broader audience.
Art has also served as a tool for processing trauma, and I hope my art can inspire viewers to find light even in the darkest times. My creations and media use are varied: I create graphite portraits, paintings, and integrate fiber and embroidery into those works. I strive for realism and attention to lifelike details. I continuously seek artistic growth, so I research, attend conferences, and participate in workshops. Pushing oneself to learn and evolve is essential to sustaining the joy and passion of creation.
| Website | TikTok | ||
| www.genevievedeits.com | @genevievesartcollective | @genevievesartcollective | gcdeits@gmail.com |
Contextual Statement
How can figurative collage painting of the collective voice explore the emotional and physical burdens of motherhood and contribute to a broader conversation about maternal mental health?
This figurative collage painting series explores motherhood’s mental and physical burdens, capturing both the emotional weight and the unseen cognitive labor. Each piece portrays a mother holding her child while managing household tasks, set against collaged pages from the 1886 book Practical Housekeeping. Green thought bubbles illustrate the constant to-do lists and worries. In contrast, blue text bubbles feature real messages from a community survey, offering an intimate look into mothers’ mental loads. This work reflects on the complexities of maternal roles in modern society by exploring the balance of societal expectations and challenges while engaging in a deeper conversation about equity in the distribution of responsibilities within families.
The series was exhibited in the Tallyn’s Reach Library, Aurora, Colorado, rather than a traditional gallery to reach a broader audience. Positioned near the circulation desk and children’s section, the paintings naturally engaged families in their daily routines. A gallery setting may have limited viewership to art enthusiasts, but a library setting welcomes a broader audience. A community board invited visitors to contribute responses to questions such as “If you could add a thought or speech bubble to one of these paintings, what would it say?” and “What conversations do you think this exhibition engages in our society?”. Some audience contributions—such as “It’s hard to balance work & family life, but the rewards are worth it” and “My brain literally can’t hold one more thing!”—underscore the emotional and cognitive strain of modern motherhood, effectively mirroring the series’ exploration of the multifaceted demands placed on mothers.
Rooted in the feminist art movement, this work validates mothers’ struggles, exhaustion, and guilt, aligning with research on shared storytelling’s role in mental health. Historically, art depicted motherhood through an idealized male perspective, overlooking its complexities (Gómez-Upegui, 2021), but there has been a shift in what viewers look for in artwork. Billie Zangewa states, ‘As life gets more complicated, people are looking for authenticity. And a person with everyday struggles, trying to raise their children, have a career, and revere the experience of parenthood through their artwork is refreshing and relatable.”(Sherwin, 2024) This series was influenced by Martha Rosler’s Semiotics of the Kitchen, which channels internal emotions through body language, reflecting on persistent societal expectations. Caroline Walker’s paintings informed the framing of a solitary mother in domestic spaces viewed from a distance. In contrast, this work immerses the viewer directly in the mother’s reality, eliminating walls to emphasize her experience, forcing the audience to identify with the mother and her experience. This project amplifies mothers’ unseen cognitive labor and sparks conversations about unseen labor. While physical labor has become more balanced in many households, the mental load remains disproportionately carried by mothers. Allison Daminger’s study, The Cognitive Dimension of Household Labor, states, “I find gender to be a major factor in the distribution of cognitive labor. Among the 32 cisgender, different-sex couples, women carried a heavier overall cognitive load” (2019: 622). Similarly, the 2017 Modern Family Index found that 86% of working mothers manage most family and household responsibilities—coordinating schedules, making appointments, and ensuring everyone is where they need to be (Bright Horizons, 2017).
Previous Work
Upcoming Exhibitions
| Exhibitions | Location | Dates |
| Dresses with Pockets | Lakewood Cultural Center 470 S. Allison Pkwy, Lakewood, CO 80226 | May 30th- August 16th, 2025 M-F 9 am-5 pm S: 9 am-1 pm |
| Com-Part-Mental-Ize | Lakewood Cultural Center 470 S. Allison Pkwy, Lakewood, CO 80226 | May 30th- August 16th, 2025 M-F 9 am-5 pm S: 9 am-1 pm |
| Pain Points: Bearing Witness in the Present Tense | Online Exhibition Full Exhibition Catalog Entry | April 15th- June 16th, 2025 |