Jacob’s Baby, Helena Wadsley
Jacob’s Baby is a large sculpture based on a diagram by 16th century physician Jacob Rueff. He created many diagrams of the stages of pregnancy to teach midwives. They tend to have a very decorative style. The sculpture contains a uterus with a fetus as well as other organs. The entire piece is made from white and cream coloured scrap fabrics, including some lace, satin, and embroidery.
Title: Jacob’s Baby
Artist: Helena Wadsley
Date: 2021
Medium/Materials: Sewn sculpture in fabric scraps
Dimensions: 200 cm x 122 cm
Form/Genre: Fibre sculpture
Key Terms/Subject/Tags: Gender; Anatomy; Reproductive system
Déclaration de l'artiste :
From the moment we are born, women have been conditioned for motherhood. It remains a common question to ask, never if, but when you will have children. While it seemed to be a woman’s most important task in life, to give birth, the female reproductive system has been inadequately studied, many female-related ailments have been dismissed, while others, such as hysteria, for example, have been invented.
Forceps were invented in the early 17th century by two French Huguenot doctors who made a business out of childbirth, keeping the tool a secret so they could monopolize childbirth where intervention was necessary. A basiotribe, a 19th-century invention, was a tool for removing a dead fetus--a violently intrusive tool used on a woman already suffering.
Contexte culturel / Histoire derrière l'œuvre :
This is part of Helena Wadsley’s ongoing series about attitudes through history about female reproduction and how the prejudices affect how women are treated in medicine today.
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