Portrait of the Artist's Mother: Dignity, Creativity and Disability Fiona Place
I am seen by many as a danger. As having failed to understand the new rules, the new paradigm of successful motherhood.
A memoir and an examination of the politics of disability. Fiona Place describes the pressure from medical institutions to undergo screening during pregnancy and the traumatic nature and assumptions that a child with Trisomy 21 should not live, even though people with Down syndrome do live rich and productive lives. Fiona's son, Fraser, has become an artist and his prize-winning paintings have been exhibited in galleries in Sydney and Canberra. How does a mother get from the grieving silence of the birthing room through the horrified comments of other mothers to the applause at gallery openings?
This is a story of courage, love and commitment to the idea that all people, including those who are 'less than perfect', have a right to be welcomed into this increasingly imperfect world.
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Endorsements
Fiona Place is one of our great truth-tellers. There is no other writer like her. —Amanda Lohrey, award-winning fiction writer.
DIGNITY, CREATIVITY This is a wide-ranging, deeply personal examination of the writer’s approach to parenting AND DISABILITY a son with Down syndrome. There is no sugar-coating, no ‘angels’ or ‘forever children’, but the very real life, great love and perceptive thinking of one mother, one son, one family, forging a good life in twenty first century Australia. —Jill O’Connor, disability advocate
A powerful must-read book with three strands. Fiona shares her own life as she explores the impact of childhood family relationships on later motherhood, the rights and abilities of individuals with Down syndrome and questions the ethics of current termination programmes. I hope this book provokes widespread debate of these issues. —Professor Sue Buckley OBE, psychologist, Down Syndrome Education International
Portrait of the Artist’s Mother illuminates all that is wrong with a society that expects children and mothers to be ‘perfect’. With carefully crafted prose, Fiona Place pushes back against negative assumptions that people with Down syndrome cannot have engaging and fulfilling lives. Her work, irradiated by her love for her son Fraser, is a delight to read. —Jessica White, author of Hearing Maud
Written with extraordinary courage and searing honesty, the author takes the reader on a vivid, sometimes painful, yet life-affirming journey of hope. This book both commands and deserves attention as a creative work and provides unique insight into disability and motherhood. —Miriam Stevenson PhD, disability consultant
This joyful and deeply moving book interlaces the many aspects of Fiona's and Fraser's lives to craft a compelling story. It leaves many varied imprints on the heart of the reader.
This is the story of a woman who defied the conventional wisdom that a child with Down syndrome is to be avoided at all costs...Her straight-talking self-portrait, which is also a portrait of her son, Fraser, a gifted artist, exposes the enermous pressure on women to terminate unborn children with detectable disorders. She doesn't downplay the difficulties her family confronted or the extra support Fraser required. But in welcoming and accommodating difference, she shows what the future could look like.
Fiona Capp, Fairfax Media (The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald)
This will be such an important book for everyone in our community. Put simply, Fiona writes glorious prose. That she has turned her attention to a long form reflection on parenting, creativity and disability is a cause to celebrate. It is for us, as readers, to recognise the experiences Fiona articulates because we share them. Here in the DSNSW Library we are almost beside ourselves with excitement!
Down Syndrome NSW Library, http://keepingupwithds.blogspot.com/
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Giving birth Chapter 2 Fraser’s gestation Chapter 3 Caring for sick children — and learning about dignity Chapter 4 Choosing motherhood Chapter 5 How had I imagined motherhood? Chapter 6 A life lived differently Chapter 7 Bringing Fraser home Chapter 8 Filling the little years Chapter 9 Disabilities plural Chapter 10 Falling pregnant for the third time Chapter 11 Health issues Chapter 12 I mother within a far larger context Chapter 13 My mother’s side of the family Chapter 14 The Place family home Chapter 15 The Baker gatherings Chapter 16 Mothering without a mother Chapter 17 “Mothering” Annette Chapter 18 How many Australians experience a disability? Chapter 19 What does it mean to experience an intellectual disability? Chapter 20 Choosing the “right” school Chapter 21 A history of the “unfit” Chapter 22 School and childcare — the drop offs and pick ups Chapter 23 Mothers supporting mothers Chapter 24 Owing Angus — a responsibility shared Chapter 25 Do you get respite? Chapter 26 An overnight excursion — negotiating illness and a disability Chapter 27 Transitioning to Middle school — the Vineland Chapter 28 Do you work? Chapter 29 How did Fraser discover his creativity – his passion for drawing and painting? Chapter 30 Senior school – mainstream or “special” school? Chapter 31 Fraser and the New South Wales police force Chapter 32 Prizes, competitions and exhibitions — a world shared Chapter 33 Facing a terrifying set of symptoms Chapter 34 Post school options Chapter 35 Imagining the future, imagining the choices that may lie ahead to a whole new generation of mothers
Read the first chapter
