Mixed media on wood, 90x90cm
Womb, Mutterkuchen/Afterbirth
Painted during the artists first pregnancy these works depict her confrontation with the changing states of her body and mind as she slowly became a mother, as well as the growing relationship to the developing Being within. The first painting Womb is dedicated to her uterus, her baby, and the realization that as women we are biologically designed to conceive (or receive), to protect and grow another human. It speaks both of the nature of pregnancy, of our bodies abilities to fully give itself to another; to grow it, nourish it and protect it, as well as the beautiful and mysterious component of not knowing who it is that is developing within you.
The second work Mutterkuchen (Mothercake) is a honouring of the placenta or "afterbirth" as it is also called. Nowadays we have forgotten the importance of a babies placenta, which just like the mother is there to protect and nourish the foetus. Releasing the placenta from the mothers body after the baby is born is considered the second birth and the birth process is only medically complete when the Mutterkuchen has been born. The placenta has and still is valued by many cultures around the world and this painting is the artists way of maintaining a connection to the part she birthed that no longer serves and is ready to be let go of. In that sense, this work also speaks of the finalization of becoming a mother. The word birthday cake is directly linked to the placenta.
Womb and Mutterkuchen speak both of the physical and of the psychological transformational processes that pregnancy and motherhood bring with it.
