This event will explore the impact of motherhood on art schools and institutions in the UK. Motherhood is understood in an expanded sense here, encompassing the experiences and challenges encountered during various stages of reproductive journeys and parenthood.
The event was inspired by intelligence gathered within The Art Working Parents Alliance (AWP) and the many members working in academia. It has considered their experiences alongside research carried out independently by Hettie Judah and the work of Dr Kate McMillan on the representation of women artists in the UK (2020). Based on data and observation, student bodies with a female-identifying majority remain the norm for not only art schools but also academic institutions focusing on the arts. As a case in point, according to HESA, around 80% of students enrolled at The Courtauld from 2018/19 to 2022/23 identify as female.
Research has shown that by the time they reached mid-career, the success of women artists in the art market and visibility in exhibitions and museum collections had significantly decreased compared to men because they were disproportionately affected by reproductive issues. This phenomenon begs the question: To what extent is this trend paralleled in academia focusing on the arts? In what ways has motherhood, understood in an expanded sense, influenced the experiences of female-identifying students and academics in art schools and institutions? How have these experiences, in turn, impacted their careers in the art world and its discrimination against women, especially (m)others, more broadly?
The event will open with three presentations by Dr Kate McMillan, Izzie Kpobi-Mensah and Hettie Judah, followed by a panel discussion with Jo Harrison, Lulu Lockhart and the speakers to discuss their experiences and probe what institutional changes could be made to address these issues. The audience will also have opportunities to contribute to this polyvocal conversation.
Co-organised by Michelle Zhu, PhD student, and Dr Catherine Grant, Reader and Vice-Dean for Education, The Courtauld. This event is kindly supported by the Broadly Conceived network.
Speakers:
Dr Kate McMillan is an artist and Reader in Creative Practice at King’s College London. Her practice and written research consider the role of art in attending to the impacts of the Anthropocene, lost and systemically forgotten histories of women, and the residue of colonial violence in the present. She was the author of the annual report Representation of Women Artists in Britain commissioned by the Freelands Foundation. She has undertaken research projects on gender inequality in the artworld and is currently examining the experiences of parents working in the commercial art sector with Dr. Cleo Roberts-Komireddi. Her multi-disciplinary art practice uses speculative fiction to reimagine feminist histories and futures. In May 2025 her new work ‘The River’s Stomach: Songs of Empire’ will be presented by theCOLAB at The Roman Baths, Surrey Street WC2. More of her work can be viewed here: www.katemcmillan.net.
Izzie Kpobie-Mesah is Head of Equity and Inclusion at the Royal College of Art where she laid the foundation for EDI through the Sir Frank Bowling Scholarship, re-established the EDI committee and its working groups, and facilitated the implementation of Race Equity Training and Inclusive Leadership programmes and the Race Equality Charter Mark. She has over 20 years of experience working within the NHS, health-related organisations, and higher education. She is the author and publisher of books for children including Adjoa Goes to Nursery, Adjoa’s Paddling Pool, Adjoa’s New Arrival, Kwesi Finds His Football Team and Kwesi’s First Football Match.
Hettie Judah is a writer and curator. She is a regular contributor to The Guardian, Frieze and The Times Literary Supplement, and writes a monthly column for Apollo magazine. She is curator of the Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood which opened at DCA Dundee on 19 April 2025. Following publication of her 2020 study on the impact of motherhood on artists’ careers, in 2021 she worked with a group of artists to draw up the manifesto How Not To Exclude Artist Parents, now available in 16 languages. In 2022, together with Jo Harrison, Hettie co-founded the Art Working Parents Alliance – a supportive network and campaigning group for curators, academics, gallerists, technicians, educators and others working in the arts. Recent books include How Not To Exclude Artist Mothers (and other parents) (Lund Humphries, 2022), Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones (John Murray, London, 2022/ Penguin, NY, 2023) and Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood (Thames & Hudson, 2024).
Jo Harrison is a curator and arts worker based in London whose practice focuses on gender, work and economies of care. She is Director at The Approach and runs ‘Repronomics’, a research project exploring social reproduction and cultural production as invisible and exploitable ‘labours of love’ under capitalism. She hosts an itinerant reading group with a focus on feminism, social reproduction, labour and economics, most recently hosted at May Day Rooms in Spring 2024. Jo was previously Curator at Almanac Projects; has been a visiting lecturer at Birth Rites Collection, Central Saint Martins and Slade School of Art (UCL). She provides mentoring for artists and art workers.
Leonora Lockhart’s artistic practice is rooted in feminist tradition and explores the influence of the domestic sphere on female identity and lived experience. Whilst at the RCA and together with Isis Dove-Edwin, she co-founded 2nd Shift to interrogate the challenges of balancing careers, student life, and motherhood. Alongside a collaborative art practice, 2nd Shift are building a diverse community of artist-mothers, fostering dialogue around the effects of motherhood on creative work and actively seek out opportunities for collective exhibitions to help alleviate some of the barriers that artist-mothers face in showcasing their work in a professional setting.
