The question of who is welcome in the art world is at the core of The Let Down Reflex, an ongoing project that explores institutional issues of accessibility. The machinations of the art world favour players who either do not have family responsibilities or have the means to assign familial duties to others (whether through paid assistance or the constant unpaid labour of a partner). From the high-commitment and low-pay opportunities that often come with the promise of “exposure” through to the demanding calendar of social events (often during evening hours), the cost of being present in both professional and personal realms as an artist or cultural producer is prohibitive to parents, particularly for those in the emerging and mid-career stages of their work life and for those working multiple jobs to make ends meet.

The Let Down Reflex is not only an exhibition about children in gallery and museum spaces, or about the position of the parent-artist, it is about access in a larger sense, and about the disregard of alternative bodies of knowledge. Creating a space for the maternal–and, more generally, the parental–in cultural institutions is an accessibility issue with which we should all be concerned, regardless of our parental status.