These digital colour sketches based on ink drawings explore the mental and physical separation of baby from the mothers body at birth. The sketches utilise a variety of source materials including medical notes from the birth of my two sons, YouTube videos of births, friends birth stories and historical anatomy sketches.
“Cut”, depicts the midwives gloved hands cutting the umbilical cord of a baby moments after birth. A gestural stain made from coffee suggests bodily fluids from the birth such as meconium.
“Snip” depicts a splayed torso, a baby and a bloodied safety pin. This image begins to deal with the violation of the babies body through circumcision.
“Outside” depicts a torso whose form is composed of grocery bag nylon, a baby in a curled fetal position and a large safety pin. This image begins to deal with ideas of separation of baby form the mother’s body during a caesarean section birth.
