Emily Zarse (she/her)
exhausted, 2021
65”x32”x3” Silk organza, 250 prenatal vitamins, cotton cording, onion skins, hibiscus tea, coffee
What does exhaustion look like in the body? What are nourishing falsehoods, things that promise care but don’t address the root of maternal depletion?
Coffee and prenatal vitamins are two substances that I take internally to combat exhaustion— they promise deliverance, but are drops in the bucket against the prolonged depletion of motherhood.
During the pandemic, mothering and working from home simultaneously, my days are marked by cups of coffee. The cycle of caffeine giving momentary pleasures + energy boosts that culminate in collapse and anxiety at the day’s end.
@emilyzarse