By Anna Van Stralen
As I began the journey of my PhD candidature, my main drive to proceed was a social conundrum. I wanted to explore and if I could, rationalise, the visceral empathy which at times many are affected by, when witnessing upheaval in the lives of those around us. The focus of my inquiry was the emotional connection I felt with the Syrian Civil war, interrogating the possible worth my response might have, as an artist and as a human. I began to write about the potential social value which ‘remote emotional connectivity’ might contribute to human culture, and how it might be thoughtfully expressed. I pondered whether an underlying understanding of our own tenuous relationship with personal wellbeing might account for the discomfiture many people feel when witnessing precariousness revealed in the lifeworlds of others.
When COVID-19 swept through the global community at startling speed, I was stunned at the escalating relevance of my exegesis in progress. This relevance emerged visually, with its paintings of compromised spaces populated with vulnerable inhabitants, and in the written narratives pondering the underlying instability at the foundation of every individual. The global pandemic was a harmonious if frightening addition to the breadth of experience I mined for my inquiry. The impact this environment had on my personal life was much more destructive.
I have been fortunate as a mother and professional, to have the committed support of a kind set of parents who help care for my four-year-old son, giving me freedom to teach and to study. As lockdown came into full effect, and my parents, as vulnerable older people isolated themselves, I found myself required to learn how to teach remotely from a home in which I was also a parent, without the safety net of childcare. My studio at home is poorly ventilated, and I was unable to continue using the noxious chemicals needed for oil painting around a four-year-old child. These circumstances led to a derailment of my painting schedule, and difficulties finding time to work on my studies. I became continuously occupied with teaching and domestic chores, alongside relentlessly attempting to keep the boredom of an energetic little boy at bay.
Even now, as lockdown is hopefully past in Tasmania (for now), I am still scrambling to catch up from the delay that this difficult time instigated. The final 6 months of my candidature have so far been exhausting as I use every hour that I can to produce writing and studio work. It continues to be a lonely time – All of the heartening coffee breaks with likeminded colleagues have been trimmed away, and the size of my world is still, months after lockdown, the four walls of my house and its small rain-sodden garden.
And yet, there is always an alternate view. Amidst all the difficulty of motherhood-academia, there has been the hint of a positive breeze blowing through my life as a result of this most unique and challenging time. I have been attending a number of classes and professional development opportunities which I would not have been able to attend previously, due to parental responsibilities. It is a rare prospect to be able to sit through a long event held in another city, extending my learning, while also being able to be with my family, and care for my son. Parenthood has long felt like being tethered to home, and the new trans-locational way that meetings and conferences have now been operating, is opening up many more possibilities for myself and others who are academics with young families. I hope that in future the flexibility to participate remotely remains an active process to involve and include a wider range of people with specific needs. In turn, we can contribute to academic and teaching excellence through these new avenues of access.
Anna Van Stralen is a local Tasmanian artist. After completing her Honours year in a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts, Van Stralen has been developing her practice through solo shows, teaching units at the School of Creative Arts in Inveresk, and by undergoing a PhD in Creative Philosophy at the University of Tasmania.
“My practice is concerned with the notion of precariousness. Using painting as a symbolic testing ground, I aim to utilize fragments of personal stories and experiences which are impacted by precarity and uncertainty. My painting practice attempts to assemble narratives into blended images which invite engagement with human concerns and broker different perspectives.”