Power of birth: uncontrollable urges and the transition to motherhood

Abstract

As part of a final-year show for the BSc(Hons) Fine Art at Oxford Brookes University, a series of paintings attracted a lot of attention, particularly on the part of the author who is a registered midwife and midwife teacher. The intentions behind the creation of the canvasses were explored in an interview with the artist and were analysed in light of birth practices in the developed world and feminist theories. The main themes identified were: the nature and experience of labour in the developed world with its potential to position labouring women as risks to themselves; the fetus and neonate; and the economics of the health-care organization. In societies where birth is removed from the home, expectations are constructed from representations, few of which depict women as powerful and capable of birthing. The animal–human hybrids of the canvasses highlighted anachronistic discourse of the hierarchy of man, woman, animal, while also reframing the essential act of reproduction as potent and powerful.