Exhibitions

"Mother’s Hands" is a reflective and emotionally layered exhibition by Eleesa Howard that explores the complexities of maternal relationships, memory, and intergenerational connection. Sparked by a conversation with her daughter and the quiet recognition of shared physical traits, the work became a meditation on Eleesa’s relationship with her own mother, shaped by love, distance, and her mother’s lifelong experience with bipolar disorder. 

Through assembled materials like recycled cardboard and thread, Eleesa pieces together fragmented memories, holding space for both tenderness and tension. Each work becomes a gesture of remembrance and reconciliation, honouring the resilience of maternal love while acknowledging its imperfections. 

This exhibition invites viewers to reflect on their own familial bonds and the traces—seen and unseen—that mothers leave behind. Through the tactile process of creating with materials like cardboard, thread, and paper—objects often discarded or overlooked—Eleesa evokes the fragility and strength inherent in memory and identity. These materials, while humble, hold the weight of time and experience, stitched together to tell stories of connection, loss, and love. 

In this body of work, Eleesa embraces the imperfect, the incomplete, and the rawness of human experience, allowing the materials to mirror the complexity of familial relationships. These pieces are not just reflections of her own journey with her mother, but an invitation for viewers to consider their own experiences with love, memory, and the generational ties that shape us all. Each work holds both the quiet stillness of memory and the energy of lived experience, creating a space where past and present, joy and sorrow, coexist. 

"Mother’s Hands" honours the enduring strength of maternal love, not in its perfection, but in its resilience and the profound impact it leaves behind—inviting us to recognise and celebrate the marks mothers leave on us, both physically and emotionally, throughout our lives. 

Public program
REGISTER HERE for a hands-on workshop with the artist on Sunday 7 September from 10.30am-12.30pm. There is a maximum of two tickets per patron applies

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Eleesa Howard is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Bunurong Country, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. Her practice spans collage, painting, assemblage, printmaking, sculpture, and textiles, with a strong focus on materiality. Howard often uses recycled and found materials like cardboard, thread, and paper and explores themes of fragility, nostalgia, and the quiet beauty of everyday life. 

Her works are rooted in personal experience—drawing from childhood memories, motherhood, and community life—to offer intimate, honest reflections on human connection and emotional resilience. Embracing imperfection, she highlights the value in the overlooked and discarded, fostering empathy and accessibility through her creative process. 

Howard’s art has been exhibited across Victoria in both solo and group exhibitions. Recent achievements include being a finalist in the 2024 National Works on Paper (NWOP) at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery and the 2025 Ripper Prize at Gallery Jones. Her public art commissions, residencies, and community workshops reflect her commitment to inclusive, story-driven artmaking. 

Download the exhibition catalogue - By clicking here

Image credit: artworks by Eleesa Howard. Photo by Kinfolk Imagery, 2024.