Are all births equal?
Birth is the common thread that unites us all but are all births really equal? How free are women to give birth in a way they want and where they want? How different is childbirth for women today in comparison with their mothers and grandmothers in the Western world? A new exhibition at Glasgow Science Centre is set to explore modern-day birth thanks to a pioneering collaboration between artists and childbirth professionals.
The new exhibition tells the previously untold story of the work of five childbirth practitioners, working in different settings with very different roles and approaches. For the first time, five artists have closely collaborated with these five very different childbirth professionals to create a series of artworks exploring childbirth today.
Birth Rites was initiated by Helen Knowles, an artist and curator, whose contrasting experiences of hospital caesarean and home birth spurred her to question our society's approach to childbirth.
The resulting four artworks and documentary film form the core of the exhibition which will tour nationally and internationally.
Public Programme
Alongside the collaborations is a public programme, co-ordinated by Phoebe Mortimer, which has included a dynamic website, workshops, and forum 'Matrix' which took place last year at Victoria Baths in Manchester.
Central to the public programme is the evolving website, www.birthrites.org.uk. Through blogs, podcasts, and images, the artists are documenting their collaborations and exploring some of the political and philosophical debates which arise. An interactive online forum then allows the wider public to contribute their comments and enter into debate around the themes of the exhibition. The website is enlivened with Jaygo Bloom's flash animations which explore different facets of childbirth.
BIRTH RITES - an art exhibition exploring the practice of childbirth
Glasgow Science Centre ‘Futures Gallery’
1 June – 3 September 2008
More information:
www.glasgowsciencecentre.org
www.birthrites.org
Admission free
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