‘re: birth’ is the second annual showcase of work by Spilt Milk members and features over 40 artists both local and international, and includes sculpture, photography, painting, video art, performance and installation.

The exhibition opens at Edinburgh Palette on 28 September and continues until 12 October 2019. 

The exhibition explores the censorship of motherhood and the maternal body, and includes work by over 40 artists who are mothers.

This year’s theme;  (‘rebirth’ or ‘regarding birth’) has resulted in a wide range of art in a wide variety of mediums.

There are representations of birth and the maternal body, contemporary narratives of the mother and child relationship, abstract reflections on the domestic realm as well as work which explores adoption, loss, and the cycle of life.

Josie McCoy’s 1997 painting ‘The Birth’ which features on the poster is inspired by the cover of Chumbawamba’s 1994 album ‘Anarchy’. This was subsequently banned in several countries for being too explicit.

Some of this imagery is censored or removed from social media. This exhibition challenges the censorship of the maternal experience and offers instead an honest and multifaceted account of what it means to be a mother in today’s world.

Highlights of this year’s show include Alex Baker’s portrait of a breastfeeding mother, her head covered in reference to Rene Magritte’s ‘The Lovers’, Emily Zarse’s hand sewn quilt titled ‘Milk and Tears’ measuring almost 3 metres tall, Tracey Marie Taylor’s sculpture created from the sound waves of her baby’s cry, and Imogen Di Sapia’s weaving titled ‘Chromosome 17’; a visual representation of the artist’s coded DNA analysis. 

More information here

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.