Gestation 2018 - 2020
During the time I was pregnant with my daughter and for a while afterwards I made a series of porcelain sculptures that were inspired by my experiences of pregnancy and early motherhood. While abstarct, these sculptures are extremely specific - they are about the experience of having another body inside my own, changing shapes, later being touched in the specific and unique way that infants touch their mothers. Even years later I still don’t have words to describe these experiences fully. Making these sculptures is the closest I have come to communicating them.
A recurring motif in these works is a texture made by pushing my fingers repeatedly into the clay, creating a scale-like effect. It was inspired by the sheer amount of touch between the mother and the newborn. Another is a bulging shape that I make by pushing my fingers on the inside of the clay form, reminiscent of the way my nine-month pregnant belly looked like when my daughter was kicking inside.
