MAMA CHAT
WITH ILLUSTRATOR KAREENA ZEREFOS
Kareena Zerefos has recently moved to Portugal with her man and 2 year old daughter Tate. Kareena juggles the art of parenting whist continuing to keep her passion for illustration alive. I have a chat with her about Motherhood, creativity and her journey with pregnancy…
What 3 words would you use to describe Motherhood?
Transformative, Expansive and Relentless
Where is home?
This is a complicated question for me at the moment - geographically, home is in Ericeira just outside of Lisbon, Portugal. Although it does feel like home here already, it's still early days, so part of me is still in Australia.
What is emerging at the moment? ( inside and out)
I feel a lot of creative energy and personal growing pains at the moment, so inside I have concept, visions and a lot of emotions that are pushing their way to the surface. On the outside, it's looking like a lot of play with paint, journalling and building a community of like-minded mothers and women.
How was pregnancy for you? Would you do anything differently next time?
Pregnancy was a pleasure for me, most of the time. I was fortunate to be very healthy and strong throughout, just a little nauseous and tired in the early weeks. The main thing I would do differently would be to take it easy and slow down much earlier on, everyone says 'sleep while you still can' and I would have tried to do more of that for sure!
Did you have a go-to pregnancy snack?
I was all about salty and sour snacks, and could not be anywhere without a stash. Tamari almonds, wasabi peas, red capsicum and citrus fruit.
You are an incredible artist, has this passion changed since becoming a mother?
Thank you lovely. The passion has perhaps become a little stronger and clearer, because I have found since becoming a mother my priorities have had to be reconsidered. In saying that, I barely get a chance to focus on my work, and I've had to come up with different ways that I can express myself artistically with my daughter.
What do you attribute your success as an artist to?
Listening and responding to the call to create, and sticking with it, even when it would be much easier (in theory) not to.
Any new advice you have for new mama's?
Surrender to what comes, and don't let the expectations of others (or yourself) get in the way what feels right instinctively for you. I've found this to really take the pressure off for me, and given me space to appreciate motherhood.
To explore some of Kareena’a amazing illustrations check out: