(M)OTHER exhibition, Leeds

Highlighting creative expression’s power in mental health, Ellie’s Portraits illustrate how uplifting women spotlighting other women can be. She compellingly demonstrates how the maternal experience can be “desperate”, “isolated”, and “all-consuming”, uncovering the toll motherhood takes on a woman’s personal identity.

Ellie Andrews says, “Throughout the first years of my daughter’s life, I found that accessing my difficult thoughts about motherhood and being able to process the challenging emotions through drawing is what has kept me mentally safe. No matter how sleep-deprived or ill I felt, I showed up to my easel and drew, and drew, and drew because I knew I would always feel better afterwards.

The idea of drawing other mothers came to me once I realised I wasn’t actually alone in my feelings, and I was able to combine my love of portraiture with my interest in spending time with other mothers.”

This exhibition sensitively captures moments between artist & sitter, showing that art can serve as both expression and therapy. The five women depicted in the exhibition, including Leeds creative and hospitality powerhouses Holly Kragiopoulos, Director of North Star Roast and Laura Wellington, Director of Testbed, Duke Makes & In Good Company are each at a different stage in their experience of motherhood. The once clear path of ambition bends under the weight of sacrifice, and all five women - Holly, Laura, Sara, Gwyneth, and artist Ellie - found themselves navigating their own mental health, their own ambitions, and a changing world under the new name of “mother”.