Artist’s Statement

Photo of me with my son Sam

As I started the MFA program at George Mason University, I was planning to give birth for the first time. Although I had always planned to have children, the idea of giving birth terrified me. I wanted to understand what would happen to my body. As an artist, I sought visual images to understand this. I found very few images outside of medical texts, and those images tended to be vague, blurry, and sterile.

I realized that I was not alone in my fear of birth: as a culture, Americans view birth as a painful and dangerous event. Two generations ago, women expected to be unconscious during birth; now women expect a medicated birth to provide relief from pain and to ensure the safety of woman and child. It has become popular for women to plan Cesarean sections to avoid birth. Even among those who do not plan a Cesarean section, approximately 1/3 of birthing American women will receive a Cesarean section: that’s almost three times the maximum rate considered necessary and healthy by the World Health Organization. American women are effectively becoming incapable of birth, thanks to our fear of it. I believe that it’s necessary for us to confront our fears in order to overcome them.

I have come to understand that birth is a natural and beautiful part of our lives. My paintings serve multiple purposes. They:

• illustrate what happens to a woman’s body during birth
• show what it is like to have a healthy and natural birth
• offer an opportunity to confront our cultural fear of birth
• demonstrate the strength and beauty of a birthing woman and her child.

Sample paintings: Charity and Izaiah, Heather and Mike, Jill, Rene, and Sevi, Mary and Sophia Joy, Ines and Luka

Research and Writing: Integrative Essay (Excerpt from Thesis)

— Jessica Clements