Ruth Batham is a Black Country born artist, currently based in London. Ruth’s work combines drawing and painting processes with a background in Human Science. The inspiration behind her work is, in essence – people. As a socially minded artist, her concerns centre around human connectedness, relationships and interactions.
“My work developed from trying to make sense of what it was like to have a baby in a pandemic. I found out I was pregnant; then 3 weeks later, Covid came. After the birth of my daughter, during a lockdown, I struggled with severe postnatal depression, which I can now see was exacerbated by pandemic restrictions.
My drawings – Absent (minded) Mother are about trying to reclaim space from a time I felt I missed. They purposely only show my husband and baby and exclude me. My state of mind did not allow me to be present and the early, foggy newborn days were full of lots of phone calls/zoom meetings to the incredible perinatal team who looked after me and my family.
Absent (minded) Mother is a series which I’ll continue to add to. Using pencil was a decision based on time pressures. It is about being able to claim time to make a resolved piece of work alongside my painting practice which can feel quite sprawling at times. The drawings are about the struggle of caring for a new human whilst being unable to care for myself. If it can speak to any other new parent from the pandemic I would be so moved.”
