Past, present, future (self-portrait with children, 2025
Cotton/linen bed sheet from wedding trousseau of the artist’s grandmother, artist’s hair
The artwork The Past, Present, Future (Self-Portrait with Children) explores the
legacy passed from woman to woman—from grandmother to mother to
daughter.
Nelly Toussaint collected her grandmother’s wedding trousseau: a bedsheet embroidered by her grandmother before her marriage. Through this act, her grandmother projected her hopes, beliefs, and expectations about her future role as a wife and mother.
Sixty years later, Toussaint embroiders the same sheet, using her own hair, with the phrase:
“profoundly, intensively alone.”
In this piece, Toussaint overlays, contrasts, and confronts her grandmother’s feelings with her own.
It is also a reflection on intergenerational connection between women.
What do we inherit?
What do we do with that inheritance?
How do we use it?
Do we make it our own—or not?
And what do we pass on?
The work sheds light on the mental health challenges that women face—
depression, burnout, and emotional strain tied to the societal roles imposed on them.
Veel sellelt kunstnikult
Soovitame ka neid teoseid
