Mother’s Right is an installation and performance piece about the United States high maternal mortality rate and postpartum PTSD. America is the most expensive and the most dangerous place in the developed world to have a baby. Black women are three to four times more likely to die in childbirth than Caucasian people. Maternal healthcare in the United States is in crisis .
Along with local midwives, doulas, and volunteers, we sewed 1,200 hospital gowns, one for every person who died in childbirth in America in 2013. The fabric was silk-screened to look like hospital gown fabric, composed of tiny drawings created of the plant derivatives of the drugs that have been used on laboring people for the past 150 years.
PERFORMANCE
For the performance, several pairs of people stood facing each other folding the gowns into triangles; similar to the way the American flag is folded at the funeral of a solider. The traditional flag folding ceremony includes twelve symbolic folds, with the ninth fold symbolizing womanhood. These hospital gowns have been cut to a length that allows the fabric to stop on the ninth fold. The folded gowns represent not only the 1,200 people who died during childbirth in the United States in 2013, but also those who have suffered abuse at the hands of obstetricians and nurses, and for the increasing number of people who are being diagnosed with postpartum PTSD after giving birth.
The current iteration of the Mother’s Right performance includes adhering an arm band onto the gowns that represent the number of black birth people who die during childbirth compared to white people.
Photos by David Hartney
Why are so many Birthing people in America dying?
Save the Children's "State of the World's Mothers" 2014 report states:
“In the United States, many suspect increases are due to more high-risk pregnancies caused by the rising prevalence of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, more older women having children, advancements infertility treatments that result in multiple births, and the high rate of cesarean sections – all of which increase the risk a mother faces during pregnancy and childbirth. Recent studies in the U.S. also suggest that poor quality care and better counting of maternal deaths may play a role. These trends are also likely to be contributing factors to rising risks in other developed contexts.” (p.70)
REFERENCES
Maternal Mortality in the United States: A Human Rights Failure
Refusals Cut Options After C-Sections
Save the Children's "State of the World's Mothers" 2014 report
World Health Organization: Maternal Mortality
Post-traumatic (childbirth) stress disorder
American Way of Birth, Costliest in the World
Maternal Death in the United States: A Problem Solved or a Problem Ignored?
Health Study Raises Concerns That Pitocin May Harm Babies
'I was not allowed': the words that steal our birth power
KICKSTARTER
The MOTHER’S RIGHT Kickstarter Campaign ran for the entire month of May in 2015 and successfully raised over $5,000 for the cost of fabric and screen printing.
STUDIO SHOTS OF GOWN PRODUCTION:
Special thanks to:
Ola Kapusto and Robert Saywitz for their work on creating the MOTHER’S RIGHT logo.
Erin Chlaghmo, Andrew Reyes, Orr Gidon, and PRINTED CHICAGO for hand screen printing over 1,500 yards of fabric.
Joe Philips for helping with construction of the installation platforms.
Seoyoung "Sue" Kim, Jillian Santora, Emily Mensching, Sarah Bowling, Karen Bachman Kells, Christine Sheets, Kristi Nuelle, and Becky Coolidge for helping with cutting and sewing the gowns
Video footage by Nadia Oussenko
MOTHER'S RIGHT KICKSTARTER SUPPORTERS
Thank you so much for your support!
+ ADRIENNE ABDULHAWA
+ RUSSELL ABRAMSON
+ KATHERINE ADAMS
+ SEELEY AND PETER CARDONE
+ BERYL CLARK
+ MEL CALIWLIW JOHNSON
+ JENNIFER AND JAIME CLEMMONS
+ RACHEL FALLON
+ MICKEY GILLMOR
+ JERRY GOLDNER
+ JOSHUA GOREN
+ CHRIS HARTNEY
+ DAVE HARTNEY
+ MARK AND TINA HARTNEY
+ MEG HARTNEY
+ MICHAEL AND CHRISSA HARTNEY
+ PATRICIA HARTNEY
+ LINDA HESSEL
+ JENNIFER HENSLEY
+ BRUNI HIRSCH
+ JULIE HOBERT
+ AMANDA HOLDER
+ KAY MARIE JACOBSON
+ CAROLINA AND VIVEK JAYARAM
+ LIZZIE JONES
+ OLA KAPUSTO
+ JOEL KAY
+ ANTHONY AND ANGELA KENDRICK
+ KATHY AND KEN KENDRICK
+ NIC KENNEDY
+ CONNIE AND JULIUS KUSTRA
+ ROYA KHADJAVI HEIDARI
+ AMY KISCH
+ MEG LEARY
+ FRANK LIU
+ TANYA MCHALE
+ ELIZA MCKENDREE
+ LAURA MIRANDA-BROWNE
+ JOSH MURPHY
+ ZOE NAVARRE
+ KRISTI AND DAVE NUELLE
+ PRINTED CHICAGO
+ MICHAEL AND KATHERINE QUINN
+ READart
+ SAM RECKWEG
+ CHRIS RINI
+ ASHLEIGH ROSE
+ DEBORAH ROYCE
+ ROBERT SAYWITZ
+ TALI SEDGWICK
+ JULIE SCHMITT
+ LAUREL SCHREMENTI
+ YOKO SHIMADA
+ DEBRA SILVER
+ CHRISTINE TREADWAY
+ MARLIES VERHOEVEN
+ ALEXANDRA WAGLE
+ SUZANNE WERTMAN