Diana Baker Smith and Kate Blackmore
Brief Illuminations Between Interruptions
2022
Single channel 4K video
13:12 minutes

Brief Illuminations Between Interruptions is a moving image work created in collaboration with artist Kate Blackmore, exploring the politics of visibility, care, and creative labour in the context of pregnancy and early motherhood.

Taking inspiration from 19th-century “hidden mother” portrait photography—where mothers were physically concealed to support the presentation of their children—the work restages this genre through a contemporary lens, situating the maternal body at the centre of the frame. Structured around a fictionalised photo shoot, the work is layered with voiceover conversations between the two artists as they reflect on dreams, desire, creative practice, reproductive labour, and the invisible structures that shape caregiving and artistic identity.

Foregrounding the collaborative energies of production—lighting, makeup, direction—the work exposes the scaffolding behind images of motherhood and interrupts the persistent cultural framing of mother-artists as isolated, private, or self-sacrificing. In doing so, Brief Illuminations Between Interruptions repositions motherhood as a shared, contingent, and inherently collective experience.

Extending Diana Baker Smith’s ongoing interest in archival absence and embodied histories, the work brings a feminist methodology to bear on how care, labour, and visibility are negotiated—both behind and in front of the camera.

Work Credits
Cinematographer: Nisa East
Photographer: Anna Hay
Sound Recordist: Ingrid Rowell
Costume Designer: Leah Giblin
Hair & Makeup: Leila El Rayes
Production Coordinator: Jade Muratore
Composer: Kelly Ryall
Sound Design & Mix: Bob Scott
Colourist: Justin Tran
Edit Assistant: Angelique Pham

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This project was commissioned by Ngunungulla for the Video Commission exhibition, curated by Megan Monte and Milena Stojanovska. It received additional support from UNSW Art & Design, and the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.