Project AfterBirth – NEWS RELEASE – July 2015

OFFICIAL EXHIBITION SELECTION

Project AfterBirth presents the first ever international open art exhibition on the subject of parenthood. The exhibition will feature unseen and rarely shown artistic responses to lived experiences of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood, in a variety of visual, performance, literary, film & digital disciplines, by 30 international contemporary artists.

The selection panel spent many days over the past two months viewing the (more than 150) works submitted from all over the world in response to the open Call For Artists, reading through all application documents and deliberating over which of the many exceptional artists and outstanding works on offer to put through.

Due to the personal and intimate nature of the exhibition’s subject, many of the works and accompanying artist statements had a deep emotional impact. This, together with the quality, quantity and variety of the submitted works, made the selection panel’s task far from easy. However, as you will agree from the list of names below, Project AfterBirth promises to be a tremendous exhibition.

Most importantly perhaps, our experiences over the last two months have confirmed how much great contemporary, innovative work has been made and undoubtedly will continue to be made on the subject of pregnancy, birth & early parenthood in the 21st century. As the first ever open exhibition on the subject, Project AfterBirth will only scratch the surface of what is out there. It is therefore crucial that the lingering taboo status of parenthood in the contemporary art world and its perceived inferiority as an artistic subject, continue to be challenged at every opportunity.

It will take more than Project AfterBirth to change things, but through the exhibition and an anticipated (funding dependent) inter/national tour, community engagement programme and research project we are in the process of developing, we hope to make our mark and, along the way, inspire other arts professionals and organisations to adopt a more inclusive approach and develop opportunities for work on the powerful subject of parenthood.

So here, then, our selection of artists for Project AfterBirth’s exhibition:

1. Alison O’Neill (UK)
2. Amanda West (USA)
3. Belinda Kochanowska (Australia)
4. Carole Evans (UK)
5. Chris Anthem (Beirut/UK)
6. Clare Archibald (Scotland)
7. Courtney Kessel (USA)
8. Csilla Nagy (Hungary)
9. Danielle Hobbs (Australia)
10. Debbie Lee (UK)
11. Eti Wade (UK)
12. Geoffrey Harrison (UK)
13. Helen Sargeant (UK)
14. Hester Berry (UK)
15. Ione Rucquoi (UK)
16. Jana Kasalova (Czech Republic)
17. Jenny Lewis (UK)
18. Josie Beszant (UK)
19. Laura James Wray (UK)
20. Lu Heintz (USA)
21. Madison Omahne (USA)
22. Magda Stawarska Beavan (Poland/UK)
23. Marilyn Kyle (UK)
24. Rachel Fallon (Ireland)
25. Rocio Saenz (Mexico)
26. Ruth Gray (UK)
27. Sacha Waters Freyer (USA)
28. Sarah Sudhoff (USA)
29. Tareg Morris (UK)
30. Trish Morrissey (UK)

Project AfterBirth’s exhibition launches at White Moose gallery, UK, from 2nd October until 13th November 2015.

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Project AfterBirth‘s exhibition selection panel members were:
– founders/curators Mila Oshin & Kris Jager (Directors, Joy Experiment, UK);
– Stella Levy and Julie Gavin (Directors, White Moose, Devon, UK);
– Martha Joy Rose (Director, Museum of Motherhood, New York, USA);
– Helen Knowles (Director, The Birth Rites Collection, Manchester, UK);
– Francesca Pinto (Head of Development, Photographer’s Gallery, London, UK).