"Rooted Resistance" exhibition features Art Faculty Becky Brown

Becoming a parent can bring anxiety, financial burden, and conflict with one’s environmental goals due to the sheer volume of new stuff entering your home. Much of it is used for only a short period, generating massive waste. Networks of parents counteract this problem by passing along their outgrown gear, and their wisdom. Gaining another family’s bouncy seat also means first-hand knowledge about life with a baby, while a hand-me-down potty brings insight into this next developmental step.  

Like the root systems of trees sharing nutrients, parenting communities ease both the financial and environmental burden of child-rearing by getting the most possible use out of a product. Online networks for local parents, “Buy Nothing” groups, and second-hand stores also help. Consumer culture makes parents think they need a new product every day, with relentless targeted advertising and each purchase only a click away. When products claim increased safety, comfort or opportunity for your child, it is hard to resist. But resistance is possible, in dialogue with others—with exchange serving as the catalyst.

This sculpture began with my third-hand carseat—finally showing its wear-and-tear—which explodes with other unrecyclable baby and kid gear: used bottles and pumping equipment, pacifiers, broken toys, stray parts, single shoes and stuffies left on the curb. Painted in solid colors to unify heterogenous collections, this series reflects our culture through its endless cast-offs. Personal and anonymous objects stuffed together explore connections between people and their belongings, including attachment and memory. In this case, they highlight the material excess of parenting, the potential for waste, and the possibility of reuse.

[from the exhibition webpage:  https://www.mothercreatrixcollective.com/events/rooted-resistance]

Curated by Allison Belolan, Katherine Gressel, Caroline McAuliffe, and Jocelyn Russell of the Mother Creatrix Collective

About the Exhibition:

Rooted Resistance examines the intersection of creative work, caregiving, and ecological advocacy, exploring how these responsibilities both compete for and amplify each other's urgency. The exhibiting artists demonstrate how parenting and familial concerns catalyze environmental action while artistic practice offers vital tools for imagining more just ecological futures.

Drawing from ecologist Suzanne Simard's concept of "Mother Trees" and maternal ecopsychologist Allie Davis's notion of "kin-keeping," the featured works reimagine environmental care as an interconnected system of mutual support. The exhibition critiques over-reliance on individualistic environmental action while celebrating innovative approaches to sustainability, repurposing, and communal care. Several outdoor and site-responsive installations extend into Washington Park, engaging directly with the landscape and creating connections between art, environment, and community.

Participating Artists:

Beca Acosta, Allison Belolan*, Shweta Bist*, Becky Brown, Janine Brown, Sari Carel, Climate Families NYC, Bel Falleiros, Ghost of a Dream, Jacq Groves, Jessica Kitzman, Rainy Lehrman, Caroline McAuliffe*, Jasmine Murrell, Bakula Nayak, Jocelyn Russell*, Hanae Utamura, Nina Wood*
*Mother Creatrix Collective Member