'[...]within the art world a number of works portray the pregnant woman as heroic and strong, but this is suggested to be an ongoing expression of the worth of women being inherent in their fertility, rather than the works imparting a sense of personal confidence, or an embodied focus for women who birth. [...]social disgust for women's reproductive processes has permeated into birthing women's sense of self, creating notions of disgust and fear, with consequences for labour and post-childbirth. In this paper I will touch upon how public health and societal institutions have progressively eliminated our sense of comfort with, and reverence for the blood and bloodied matter that comes from the reproductive processes of the female body, and also explore how human cultural "sacred" birthing rituals have been replaced with medicalised rituals that are lacking in spiritual nurture, and how these may be contributing to the fast-escalating statistics of post-natal mental health diagnoses. [...]I will demonstrate the power of a created, artistic artefact to elicit dialogue that, while awkward at first, opens a treasure trove of human connection through story-telling and shared reverence for the female contribution of blood to the human species.' (Publication abstract)
