“This is a pointillism drawing of my mother, done by my father. I figure she’s perhaps in her late twenties or early thirties. It’s somewhere in New Zealand, I'm not sure if they were actually there or if it’s an image from Dad’s imagination.

This is possibly the thing in my home that has the most meaning. It brings up a sense of longing in me, something soulful, ungraspable but palpable. It’s hard to put words to why it is meaningful to me, but something about it feels mythic. It’s a strong image, it affects the imprint I already have of my mother. When I look at this picture I don’t see the mum I know. I see a version of her that I imagine she has almost lost touch with. A kind of wild, uncaged version of herself, youthful, in love, curious and wistful. It’s my mother through my father’s eyes, seen again through my own.

My father has a really beautiful way of seeing the world that I have always been really interested in, captivated by and hungry for. I think many can relate to having a bit of a struggle with their mother. I have had struggles in my relationship with my mum. But something in this picture softens my feelings about her, a lot, and it makes her more human for me, more full. It takes her out of the box that I can put her in. It shows me another vision, which frees her to be more than my perception and in turn changes the way that I can relate to her.

This picture gives me hope for her and for me, with our matching neurosis. It’s huge for me actually, this image. I can frame a story of my whole relationship with the concept of mother here in these dots.”

What does sentimentality mean to you?
“It’s such a particular feeling. It’s a heart and belly kind of feeling, a softening and a widening. Particularly in the heart, and I think it softens my face as well.

For me, sentimentality is synonymous with nostalgia. It has a sense of pining or longing to it for something passed. The sentiment of something is like the scent of it, the sensation, the feeling left. The sensation left with or attached to something perhaps.” - Juliette, Golden Bay, Tākaka (Interview: Chloe Mason) Find her: awakeningarts.co