A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Politician
Kim Waldron —
Shortly after the beginning of my election campaign I gave birth to my second child, Margot Eleanor Ross. Everyone present in the room, including the doctors and nurses, were surprised by the fact that Margot didn’t scream when she was born, she spoke. Her babbling wasn’t comprehensible—it seemed like she had been listening to everything in utero and she was ready to share. Margot influenced the substance of my campaign. It wasn’t just the pregnant belly on the poster, but how I came to understand that I was running for her. On the municipal, provincial and federal levels, women on average hold 25% of the seats and we make up 50% of the population1. We need more female voices contributing to the political discussion. We need more women in power. Growing up I had always been weary of politicians as I felt they were dishonest. I had very little interest in becoming a politician. Making speeches and taking part in public debate are not my natural strengths. However, through the process of mounting my election campaign I discovered that visual strategies and framing my artwork for the media and funding committees had actually prepared me for self-representation. Many of the dynamics at play in the art world translate into the realm of politics. I was anxious before my interviews with Vice News and Infoman. Interviews with politicians loomed large in my mind, as the media often ridicules public figures. Vice approached me first, asking if they could interview me while I was putting up signs in the Papineau riding. I balked at the idea and suggested hosting the interview at the gallery where I was presenting an exhibition titled
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Politician
La très honorable Kim Waldron (of three paintings I had had made in China by the painter Wang Wei from the photograph on my campaign poster). Nevertheless, I had misgivings about staging the interview in the gallery. I wanted to appeal to as many voters as possible and the association of the white cube with elite circles was not the image that I wanted to project. I realized afterward that the gallery was where I felt most comfortable. I then understood that I was sincerely running to become a federal representative from the position of an artist. I thought I bombed the interview with Vice but they edited everything into something that worked. Most people I encountered, including the journalist from Vice, questioned if my campaign was just an art project. The opposite is closer to the truth; it was my art practice that afforded me the confidence to put myself forward as a candidate. In fact, the art context provided me with one of the most personally transformative experiences of my campaign. During the Papineau All-Candidates Debate 2015 organized by Optica, a centre for contemporary art, and VIVA! Art Action performance festival I found myself on a stage with six candidates. For the duration of that performance my voice was equal to all of the other voices. In that moment, I perceived my position as an artist running for federal office to be just as credible as any position that candidates were running from. My Infoman interview took place on Thanksgiving Day. I showed up with my daughter who was just shy of turning one. My poster had been really successful at pushing people’s ideas about self-representation in the public sphere and I wanted to present the
