In 2023 Helen de Main was one of two artists in the exhibition Repeat Patterns at GoMA. Helen de Main is a visual artist and printmaker whose practice investigates contemporary and historical depictions of women’s lives. She often works with groups in the community, using discursive models to explore personal experience and reflect on social and political conditions. Her work for Repeat Patterns centred a printmaking practice that emerged from her interest in the second-wave feminist argument that ‘the personal is the political’ – which asserts experiences in women’s personal lives are directly linked to the social and political conditions within society. Her research into the consciousness raising groups, feminist campaigns for equal pay, childcare and gender equality informed two new works in the show – We Want the Moon and Childcare Now.

As part of the Repeat Patterns project, Helen also worked with Maryhill Intergration Network (Oasis Women’s Group) and Mammas Write in response to her show. Mammas Write is a  collective of mothers determined to continue their creative lives within the chaos of new motherhood. They worked with Helen in the Studio at GoMA and Riso print studios in Glasgow, opening their exhibition as Repeat Patterns closed. At the same time, we (GoMA and Helen) asked Jessica Ramm (artist and writer, and member of Mammas Write) to respond to Helen’s work and the PDF below is the text that she offered.

In 2024 Mammas Write became involved in the Feed Project at GoMA, which would develop into a publication as part of The Milky Way.

Feed is a collaborative art project that challenges social stigmas around human milk and promotes inclusive, sustainable approaches to infant feeding and public spaces. Working with cultural venues, public health teams, artists and communities, Feed’s ambition is to create opportunities for people to share their experiences and challenge negative social attitudes towards human milk and mothering. Jessica Ramm would also be invited by the Feed Project to undertake an artist commission in response to the themes in Feed, which resulted in her exhibition, now titled Hard Edges Soft Layers. It was interesting to go back and re-read her text from 2023 and the resonances with her own show in 2025. This connection between the two artists’ practices, approaches and the role of the institution led to an event on Saturday 30 November 2025 as part of ongoing programme of feminist responses to the exhibition Domestic Bliss (2019–) and “The Milky Way” at the Gallery of Modern Art. The text is published here on that occasion as a catalyst for the discussion that takes place.

Jessica Ramm is an artist and writer based in Glasgow. Her work in sculpture, print and performance explores themes of vulnerability, communication and connection. She often works collaboratively, and the relationships she builds inform how her processes unfold.

Helen de Main is a visual artist and printmaker whose practice investigates contemporary and historical depictions of women’s lives. She often works with groups in the community, using discursive models to explore personal experience and reflect on social and political conditions.