Now I KNOw What Nothing Is

Details

Vernissage: Thursday Sept 17, 2026, 6-8 pm
Dates: Sept 17 - Nov 1, 2026
Location: Centre d’exposition Art-Image, 855 Bd de la Gappe, Gatineau QC
Viewing Times: Weekdays - 1 - 8pm, Weekends 1 - 5 pm

About the Show

The title of the exhibition, Now I Know What Nothing Is, was inspired by a photograph published in Patti Smith’s A Book Of Days*, a book containing 366 images from Smith’s life. In this image, Smith sits in a chair, chin in the heel of her hand. She is lost in thought, a distinct heaviness to her gaze. The caption accompanying the photo reads:

This is just thinking of nothing. I remember my mother sitting like this. And I would ask, what is it Mommy? And she would say, Oh nothing. And now I know what nothing is.’

The photograph and accompanying reflection resonate powerfully with our collective. As mothers, we too know what nothing is. It is all the things we can't share, speak, articulate, or even find words for. It is a moment of love so overwhelming and powerful that we can’t remember who or what we were before it. It is wishing time could both stand still and hurry up. It is not wanting to hurt, scare, or burden our children with what we feel. It is the feeling of too many things to do, of being paralyzed and not knowing where to start. It is a moment of peace. It is thinking of everything. Nothing is in fact everything, and everything is exhausting and overwhelming. 

‘Nothing’ is the hidden mental load borne almost entirely by women. Sociologist Monique Haicault introduced the term 'mental load' in an article entitled “La gestion ordinaire de la vie en deux” published in 1984 in the journal Sociologie du travail. In 2017, the French cartoonist, Emma, published ‘You Should Have Asked,’ which addressed the mental load. Millennial women, many going through the early stages of parenthood latched on to this term, and it went viral. Although the mental load is now a widely used term, most mothers experience the weight of it before they even know there is a name for it, can understand it, explain it, or even verbalize it. This mental and emotional hidden work is hard to measure – it has no beginning and no end. It is thinking, worrying, planning, adjusting, moderating, remembering, and organising. 

Through the production and dissemination of new work, 44.4. seeks to engage and create conversations around the invisible mental and emotional load. Each artist will produce and exhibit one or more artworks, using her distinct voice to visualise the invisible. Our responses will therefore not only be informed by our experiences as mothers, but also as children who once asked our mothers the same question. Patti Smith’s photo is at the intersection of parenthood, adulthood and childhood. The photograph asks us to consider being mothered: to expand our ideas around motherhood through an intergenerational lens. Smith says: “Here are my arrows aiming for the common heart of things,” and we too will explore the common heart of things: of motherhood, of relationships and of our pasts. 

*Smith, P. (2022). A Book of Days. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Exhibition Contributors

Sarah Anderson
Robyn Bragg
Helin Burkay
Jennifer Cherniack
Rebecca Clouâtre
Sarah Jane Estabrooks
Greta Grip
Sayward Johnson
Alexa Mazzarello
Florencia Alba Moreno
Andrea Mueller
Kristine Nyborg
Lucie Raymond