BEGINNINGS
Preconception to Conception of ‘Womb Women’
This story began back in 2015 when I had to find a way to speak up, to find my voice. I created for myself my very own Voice Project, it began with discovering and exploring the root of my voice, connecting with the voices of all women who have gone before me, my blood lineage, my teachers, their stories, their experiences of being alive as women. Acknowledging that the DNA within my very own voice box and vocal cords, contains the DNA (some strong and some diluted) of every woman of my blood line.
Feeling and honouring that the foundation of my own ‘Voice’, my own story, was and is being deeply supported by the collective wisdom of each woman who has directly or indirectly touched and fed my own personal narrative.
From there I explored what my voice, physically and metaphorically, actually sounds like, what do I have to say, how do I want to say it, what is mine to say, is there something in particular that I am here to say.
This umbilical thread, between my own story of living here and now, and the heritage of women’s voices from my past, is like a synapse that simply gets stronger and stronger the more tap into it. A connection that feeds, nourishes, offers sustenance for all those moments when I need courage to truly speak up.
2020 and an idea took root in my mind...
to create single lines of small women to represent womb to womb lineage, drawn to the idea of being able to hold one of these individual creations in the palm of my hand, I guess a bit like a token which represents the wisdom of the ancient mother in all women.
As I sat and sculpted each woman, I became deeply aware that the bone and flesh of my own hands held the DNA of all my mothers ... centuries upon centuries of grandmothers. I wondered how many of them had their own stories of shaping clay, forming sculptural figures, moulding pots. I imagined all of them having had some special way of creating with their hands, what was it my grandmother of 200 thousand years ago created I wondered.
I felt and still feel a sense of wonder when looking at my hands, a whole new perspective opens up with the knowledge that, through the evolution of humanity, the hands of approximately 100 thousand womb to womb women of my unique bloodline, gave birth to my own.
I felt a drive to create these small women for others as well. So often sculptures are created to be placed somewhere aesthetically pleasing, to be viewed only, not to be touched for risk of damage etc. I wanted these figures to be very touchable, to be cradled in the palms of hands, perhaps even cherished. And on a practical level I wanted them to be accessible and therefore affordable.
And so over a hundred small womb woman were created … conception of a much bigger project, that I no idea of at the time, had begun.
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Having set up for the 2020 Arts tour I was blown away by the powerful impact of seeing lines and lines of these womb women, representing the continuum of now through to the first mother, and the overwhelming response from others.
Most of these first Womb Women now have new homes.
Witnessing the delight in people as they created their own thread of womb lineage.
Sharing stories and the names of grandmothers going back several generations.
Sharing conversations about how as a human species we have been strong enough to survive this far, with each of us having our own unique womb to womb line, and yet as individuals we are also quite fragile, many matriarchal lines have ended simply due to a girl not being born.
And, many lines will continue for generations upon generations to come.
Each small Womb Woman I make is individual and special in her own right. To see a whole line of women together had my heart skipping a beat.
CONCEPTION
my last backstory gem, the one that actually birthed this Womb Women Lineage project …
Whilst I was sitting in my little makeshift studio (as part of the 2020 Coromandel Arts Tour), forming yet another woman in my hands, noticing that this one a bit bigger than the last, I had a wild thought, what if I kept making them bigger and bigger.
Imagine if there was a line so long it filled an entire hall or gallery of some sort. What if the line started with the smallest in the front, then ever so gradually got bigger and bigger – in fact how big could I actually go? and how amazing would that look.
How powerful this would be as a symbol representing mitochondrial womb to womb lineage, from the current generation back to the first mother. I began to feel very excited.
I caught myself thinking I could not possibly pull off something so big, then in the next breath told myself ‘why not!’
I am my only obstacle …
and so the dream took hold,
I found myself telling people this was my next step and realised if that was the case then I had better put plans into action and make this project a reality.
Alchemy of fire … the Kiln
For me the kiln is a crucible, raw materials enter a process of fire and intense heat and an alchemic transformation occurs. A potent dance between heat, clay, oxides, and glaze. The higher the heat the darker and richer the clay can become, glass melts, pools and runs … there is always a sense of the unknown, you can never truly know what result will occur or what will be waiting for you when the kiln lid is opened.
I feel such a thrill of excitement when I load the kiln and then tenfold excitement when opening it, goodness knows what feast for the eyes and soul awaits me. I am never disappointed!