Looking at adoption from the birth mother’s perspective gives the adoptee an idea of the range of circumstances and emotions of mothers who either readily gave up their babies for adoption or who were, and still are, forced or bullied into giving them away.
In the 1950s the shame that an unmarried mother brought to their families surpassed any consideration off the pregnant mother, in many situations young mothers were disowned by their families and were never reconciled. If they did return, they were never encouraged or allowed to speak of what happened to them. For many women in the past the burden of their ‘guilty secret’ was carried to the grave.
An article written appearing in the Guardian newspaper in October 2007 suggested that mothers were further humiliated by being ‘…encouraged to buy a pack of baby clothes to hand over to the adoptive parents of their child’.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/oct/31/familyandrelationships.women
I have made nine blankets each measuring nine inch that signify the emotional suffering of the woman during her nine months of pregnancy and the sense of loss in having to give the baby away at the end of that time. Even among those who didn’t want to keep their baby they too, underwent a degree of loss.
Context for the work comes from two contemporary artists; Tracey Emin and her sewn applique and American artist Mary Kelly who used Latin text in her working titles between 1973 and 2010. By combining these two aspects and using red thread to attach the words written on the canvas patches I have represented the blood ties and trauma.
From the painting of the seed (See 22nd April) I have made a linocut of the ‘veins’ of the shell of the physalis seed and experimented with printing.
Printing the seed onto enlarged photocopies of old photographs…
Red is the colour…it is a constant reminder of what connects all life as well as linking families to each another and is symbolic for those individuals trying to re-connect with their origins.
In relation to origins my seed idea is still on-going. In this mini project, I have made seeds from air dried clay, painted them red and then placed them inside seed pods which have already shed their seed.
I have been researching more adoption information since the completion of this year’s semester and the subject is so broad it is difficult to stay on a particular track; although I will have to at some point.
I have been reading about the trauma of forced adoption and the endless repercussions. With this in mind I have found it useful to work on a series of small projects in order to process some of the information I have gleaned.
For example, I have looked at a website written and produced by Rose Bell who shares her research on mother and baby homes in the mid twentieth century. http://www.motherandbabyhomes.com/. Rose writes about what life was like in the homes as well as quoting some of the mothers personal stories. The homes Bell refers to are not the infamous homes run by nuns, but nevertheless they convey the torment and guilt many of the young unmarried mothers suffered as a result of being inside them. Bell states; ‘I feel so honoured to bear witness to these stories, and hope that by sharing them others can develop a greater understanding for an historical phenomenon which continues to have a very real impact on women and their children today.’
These stories are still current and the pain continues as mothers search for their children and children search for their birth mothers. But at the same time there are mothers who would rather wipe the memory from their lives and so they shun all contact with the children they gave away for adoption.
1950s and 60s images of nursery/hospital cots lined up containing babies inspired me to make miniature cots… 20 in all, made with matchsticks and card to correspond in size to the miniature babies I had used for the chocolate box.
The single baby suggests the one baby left at the hospital or home and awaiting adoption.
