Here
are two artworks and a poem I made about what it is like for me being
pregnant from prompts from a book called "Birthing From Within" by Pam
England. The poem is describing the second art piece.
Being Pregnant, 30 weeks
Little curling seedling,
I try to imagine you inside me,
but your tender development eludes me.
As I crane to grasp the very concept of
you,
the boundaries of my being expand,
making room for your ever reaching
tendrils.
As we ride the turbulent tides together,
we are guided by instinct, intuition,
and my sea creature heart who flips
effortlessly through the waves beside us.
I
made the paintings in an art making session with my Mom, where she also
made art about pregnancy, childbirth and the future baby.
I
am becoming aware that I am on a path of inter-generational healing
since my Mother has come to live with me last Oct. Some of it
has manifested in my own poetry, some of it has been in a parenting
class with my sweetheart, and now this art making was the first time I
was able to include her in the process as well. Thus I am thinking of
the following project...
Project idea:
My
sweetheart, Mom, and I (and maybe other family members), all write a
letter/poem to our own childhood self, and then another to the unborn
baby in my belly. We then excerpt one to three lines from our letter to
the baby, and each of us writes the excerpts on my belly (probably with
facepaints). If we do each of these separately, we can also decorate
the belly as we wish. However, we may wish the excerpts to somehow be
in conversation with each other. I imagine documenting this with a
series of photographs of each person drawing on my belly (or maybe video
which could capture any movement of the fetus as well, but other then
that I think photos are enough).
Feedback:
Any ideas for the prompts or parameters of my project idea to make it clearer or more interesting?
Any visions of environment?
Any other ideas or thoughts?
-Any ideas for the prompts or parameters of my project idea to make it clearer or more interesting?
ReplyDeleteI think it could be interesting to document -- through photos or video -- each step of the process, including writing and selection, rather than just the writing on your belly. I wonder if your mom might also write a letter to you (either to you as a soon-to-be mother or to you as a child or to you when you were still in the womb)?
I wanted to ask you to talk a bit more about what you mean by intergenerational healing. Of course, any kind of loving connection and dialogue can be healing, but the word "healing" seems to be about recovering from a hurt or multiple hurts...an old hurt around parenting, or being a child? Are you interested in specifically framing the letters so that they're about healing from these kinds of hurts? Or do you prefer to emphasize a hopefulness? Or to keep it open-ended? I'm remembering that Olga Broumas once said, "The active state of peace is healing."
If you were to decorate your belly, what prompts or guidelines would you give for the decoration?
Any visions of environment?
It might depend on the content of the text, but a warm lamp-lit domestic scene, or perhaps outdoors in the sun in your garden, or the sea? Also, the colors of the paints would be nice if they either contrasted with or corresponded to the environment.
Any other ideas or thoughts?
While I think photo documentation would be lovely, I could also imagine a short video, filled with close-ups of hands writing, on paper and belly, different textures and ages, perhaps some talking including both the letters and discussion around what to include for the excerpts, some background music, thoughtful and gentle caresses. It might be nice to find a professional photographer or videographer to do the shoot.