Artist: Michelle Watkins
Title: Woman Wearing Many Hats
Medium: Original Portra800 Medium Format Film, Printed on Torchon Hahnemuhle FineArt Paper
Size: 11 x 13 in.
Artist Statement: 
In this image, I explore The Messy Madonna through a woman wearing many hats. Year ago I saw a sketch by Caitlin Connolly of a woman wearing multiple hats. It has stayed with me all these years and I wanted to recreate it somehow through photography.  The idiom “wearing many hats” typically suggests juggling multiple roles or taking on too much. But in this piece, I’m interested in the contradiction—seeing it not only as burden, but as a strength, and possibility of who we can become.  The Madonna of art history is often depicted as graceful, composed, and singular in purpose: to nurture and care for the infant Jesus. I once believed my own purpose was similarly singular—to be a mother. I followed the prescribed path given to me by priesthood leaders of becoming a “righteous” and spiritual woman: dressing modestly, serving a mission, marrying in the temple, and starting a family young.  Yet after fulfilling those religious expectations, I felt other callings emerge alongside motherhood and struggled to find a way to “balance” wearing more than one hat. My love of the arts, my desire to advocate for women, and my need for creative expression. Motherhood was not my only role; it was one of many.  In this work, the many hats become a declaration rather than a burden. I claim the right to be multiple things at once: mother, artist, and advocate. I claim the right to discover what spirituality means to me as someone who trusts her own intuition and is on a journey of finding God. The roles we are given are not the only ones available to us, nor do they have to define us. We can choose the hats we wear, and wear as many hats as we wish.