The break between finishing this MFA show and now has been an unexpected one; I’ve tried 3 months of working as an artist and a stay at home mom (SAHM). Supported mentally by publications such as Mothering magazine, Brain Child, as well as lengthy discussions with other mothers, I’ve cultivated an idea that came in the midst of the final frenzy of Maternicity.

I am continuing my research into feminist views on motherhood, mothering, and what it means to become a mother. This new body of work will move its focus on my own role identification experience with accepting motherhood to include the larger, more universal themes of mother, focus on birth stories in particular, with an emphasis on the moment of birth itself. The new body may become one very large charted depiction of the timeline of many birth stories, probably overlapping and intersecting at significant points. I am considering the possibility of adding an audio component to the piece(s) as narrative interviews, probably edited for specific content and streamed into the gallery space where the visual art will hold much of the weight within the space. The materials are yet to be determined, however, I expect heavy line drawing influence through light textile/thread structures, probably continuing with hand processed fibers in reference to body fibers, all within a type of chart/pedigree type structure. The structure will be free within space, unless circumstances and materials end up forcing it to a large flat vertical surface.

Research for this project will require hundreds, if not thousands of audio recorded interviews of both mothers concerning their first births, as well as midwives for correct vocabulary and professional language and the transcription of all these audio materials. I feel it is extremely important to include a wide variety of ethnicities, cultural groups, economic levels, and ages to create a more accurate picture of modern births.

The aim of this body of work will be to accurately depict contemporary birth narratives in a visual (and possible audio) form. Justification for the project comes from an intense personal interest in birth narratives, a coinciding second pregancy and need for further personal exploration into the overarching themes of birth processes and the evolving definition of contemporary motherhood, the blatant runaway managed maternal care within the US health care system in particular, as well as the yawning gap between widespread perceptions of birth and actual realities.

The new blog can be found at www.birthnarratives.wordpress.com

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