I often feel over-whelmed with the daily, I strive for order. I wanted to depict the mental load of a mother through sculpture, and this led to my 3 stacked works, The Mental Load. I had been photographing toys, capturing the mess, and I realised that the children's stacking toys were about order. I decided to make three versions of the stacking toys showing the different levels of control I have of the day-to-day life. The first stack nicely ordered just like the original toy, then a second, a more disordered version gripped by my hands to show still, some element of control present, then, the third, freely poured plaster giving up control of the outcome. I painted it in primary and secondary colours to resemble the original toy, but also to try to add an element of brightness to a concept that often makes me feel overwhelmed and sad.
