We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kim Hopson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kim, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
My most recent series, Sweater Weather, is a very personal body of work and therefore very close to my heart. It is an autobiographical study of frustration, toil, resilience and all the ups and downs that come with parenting.
I found early motherhood very challenging. The emotional and physical toll of caregiving is overwhelming, and Sweater Weather is my attempt to unpack that experience as a disabled parent.
The paintings and collages in the collection emphasize the struggles of caregiving through twisted and bundled knitwear constraining the mother figure present in most of the imagery. However, there is also beauty, hope, and love illuminated through the use of bright colors and haloed light surrounding the bundled and burdened figures.
I’ve spent my life carefully creating an environment to avoid struggle, but caring for children has made that unavoidable. Motherhood brought me to a place, personally, where I had to face my disability head on- in a new way that was very, very intense.
Kim, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I left a career in teaching to pursue a dream of becoming a full time artist. It was a scary and audacious act. It was, and still is, important for me to create artwork that sparks conversation about caregiving, disability and ableism. It is necessary for disabled voices to be uplifted and heard, especially in the art world. My work comes from a place of personal experience, and a deep rooted desire to share my narrative with others. Connecting through storytelling is an ancient practice that has brought communities together for centuries, and it’s my intention to build upon that narrative tradition.
Individuals with disabilities are often underrepresented, ignored, or infantilized. Pop culture tells our stories for us, through trite and often shallow storylines in movies and bit roles that do not show the true complex and beauty of our lives.
Many in the disability community face barriers to accessing opportunities for artistic expression and development. It is imperative that our stories are told through the lens of those who are navigating that lived experience. Through sharing my artwork, I uplift disabled voices to the forefront of the contemporary art world in the NYC community and beyond.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
As a parent with a disability, I found myself feeling invisible in a society that values able bodies and undervalues care work. The crippling anxiety that came with those expectations is compounded by the need to connect and find kinship in the mist of that struggle. Resilience is born from facing what is hard and finding the wisdom on the other side. It is about clinging to hope and grounding yourself in the beauty of the disarray.
I developed my most recent body of work to share my experience with anxiety, and create a space to honor that aspect of my motherhood journey.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I believe my resistance through art is an active rebellion against the pressures of society founded in ableist and sexist ideologies. I explore the experiences of the unseen and often marginalized caregiver. Many of the figures in my work are faceless, bundled, and burdened with the expectations placed by society–on women, and especially disabled women. My artwork is meant to evoke a response. Why do we feel it’s fair as a society to place so many unrealistic expectations on mothers? How do we understand the anxiety this induces for the caregiver?
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kimhopsonstudio.com
- Instagram: @kimhopsonstudio
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-hopson-3b653b116/
- Twitter: @kimhopsonstudio
Image Credits
The Climb, acrylic on wood panel, 13 x13 inches, 2022. The Nest, acrylic on round panel, 16 inches, diameter 17 1/2 inches, 2022. Mothers Den, acrylic on board, 16×20 inches, 2022. Pieta, acrylic on board, 18×24 inches, 2022. Sweater Weather Collage 2, collage on paper, 8.5×11 inches, 2022. Mommy Dance, collage on paper, 8.5×11 inches, 2022. Anxiety Party, mixed media collage, 9×12 inches, 2022. No, I’m OK, Really, collage on paper, 8.5×11 inches, 2022.