Invisible Motherhood
Invisible Motherhood is a space for women to share stories and creative responses to motherhood experiences that can seem invisible in society. In 2018 I had a miscarriage at 12 weeks. I found the experience shocking and life changing. I felt naive about what to expect, despite many women around me having experienced miscarriage (I found out later). I noticed some friends, family and work colleagues found it difficult to talk about, or know what to say, or understand what my body might be going through, or when I might be better. I found it hard to know what support I might need or what to tell people. I wanted to shut myself away and hide, or shout to at strangers on the bus when my daughter was having a melt down and it was all I could do to just get home. Despite being incredibly common, I realised that we don’t talk openly about miscarriage in society. For many its a private, even secret experience. It might have happened before telling anyone about the pregnancy. I started to think about other maternal experiences that might be happening across the country, the world, that are unspoken or may even feel taboo or shameful because they feel invisible in society. This project was a place to start to tell some of those stories.
Lizzy Humber
My invisible Western
A story about my miscarriage
By Lizzy Humber
“I notice simple hemp bags hanging pristinely at the zero waste stand and hurriedly fill some with cornflakes and pumpkin seeds. I forget to weigh them and have to fluster with this at the counter. I’m terrified the assistant knows I am trying to buy a shroud for my baby.”
My Silent Miscarriage
By Katie Villa
“My mum managed to convince me that I was in shock and that I shouldn’t drive, and soon my husband was at home, holding me while I sobbed. I wanted a second chance. I wanted the opportunity to see her without the fear. I wanted us to hold her together.”
The Waiting Room
The thoughts of a new a Mum who was meant to embark on life with 3 under the age of 2
By Catherine Copley
“It’s all very strange in those moments after, the room wasn’t filled with cry’s, but it’s quiet and calm. They’re not placed straight on me, my wonderful midwife who’s said all the right things, done all the right things, takes them away to prepare them before I see them.“
Blown
Remembrance of An Early Termination
By Christine Rose
“We sat up on bar stools; I felt incredibly happy. Hadn’t I come through a tiny private little bloody war in Richmond, a seedy, white-gowned act of self-slaughter? Yet here I was sipping beer in a bar with music and lights. How vigorously life could make good. How blessed I was to be free.”
I had an abortion.
By Claire Tustin
“Even when he removed a condom halfway through sex without my consent, I didn’t complain as much as I should have done. The first proper row we had was when I got pregnant and he said he didn’t want me to keep the baby.”
Miscarriage in bronze
By Elizabeth Cane (2018)
“To some miscarriage might seem like a dirty subject that’s unfit for a nice cosy art show.”
My personal miscarriage story
By Rebecca Bruton
The Calm’ Self portrait on hospital gown 2019.
“‘During our miscarriage there was a moment of profound calm between the contractions and the birth. Suddenly the pain stopped and peace washed over my body. To me it felt like our baby was saying ‘it’s ok now mum, I’m gonna let go’ When I saw the perfectly folded gown at the end of the bed as we walked into our hospital room, that was when I knew our pregnancy was really over.”
My Creation Myth
By Micha Colombo
I Know How This Show Goes
By Rebecca J Burman
“Eventually, He arrives.
He is dressed as a clown, but his face paint is sinister.
I'm shit at my job, he smiles, but my dog is here to help me. Sorry you got landed with us, but everybody else is on stage.”
Womb
Extracts from The Bone Staircase
By Kerry Priest
Image: ME Orwell
“I wrote the poem "Womb" as an attempt to redress the erasure of the feminine from history. It is strange to think how little we, as a species, talk about the womb, even though every one of us has lived in one for nine months of our life. It is the single experience that all of humanity shares.
"Womb" is the closing poem of my sequence about ancestry and IVF called “The Bone Staircase”.”