(2019)
In some aspects, we’re all protagonists of birth. We come to this world by birth, we can give birth or -as a matter of fact - we can choose not to do so. Childbirth is a naturally inborn gift of most women. Theoretically it is a democratically decided possibility. However, real life is much more complex. We do not come to the world by our own will. Birth is dominated by unique principles different from the standards that otherwise are supposed to rule human life. A confinement may be a traumatic, lonely or painful event as well as a cathartic, overwhelming, experience.
The participants of this video can be observed in a “casting situation “quasi manifesting the absurd standards of all the requirements expected of a female (body) capable of labour.
As a juxtaposition on a separate screen we’re suggesting another point of view which could be interpreted as a metaphor of the experience of birth itself. A comprehensive narration of individual stories -excerpts cut from different interviews made with women becoming mothers just recently- gives you the feeling of authenticity. By these narratives, the labour is retrieved from the field of abstraction to the much as it is extraordinary but lifelike situation which is experienced by many women throughout the whole world.
Exhibited in Peckham 24, during Photo London 2019.