Film Programme: Acts of Creation

A series of images from the exhibition. One collage of a woman on top of a washing machine, a painting of baby bottles being washed in a sink, one nude sketch of a female, and one photograph of a woman preparing for birth.

Images (L-R): VALIE EXPORT, Die Geburtenmadonna, 1976 © VALIE EXPORT _ Bildrecht, Wien 2023; Caroline Walker, Bottles and Pumps, 2022. Courtesy the artist; Claudette Johnson, Afterbirth (1990), 1990. © Claudette Johnson; Hermione Wiltshire, Nicole Preparing For Birth. 2008. Courtesy the artist.

Drop in and view a collection of specially curated short films to accompany the exhibition Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood. Delving deeper into themes covered in the exhibition, these seven films explore the transformational process of becoming a mother.

Laure Provost, Four For See Beauties, 2022, 15 mins 13 secs

This surreal marine-based work shows two women nurturing each other and a baby, encouraging audiences to consider: how would it feel to be a baby again?

Liesel Burisch, GORILLA MILK, 2021, 9 mins 54 secs

This experimental film documenting a gorilla in her enclosure details motherhood, body dysmorphia and the life of a female in captivity. Ultimately, it reflects the importance of love, community and solidarity.

Maternal Fantasies, Suspended Time, 2021, 9 mins 54 secs

Mothering is not exclusive to a physical identity, but instead attention, nurturance, protection, and an interrupted state of mind. In this video, Maternal Fantasies explore the care and motherhood through the lens of social invisibility and fantastical visibility.

Elsa James, 150 Lies, Myths and Truths, 2006, 18 minutes

This transformational work records James heavily pregnant, contemplating what it means to bring a Black woman into the world. Her vulnerability subverts the expectation that Black mothers should be strong, capable and almost superhuman.

Lindsey Mendick, Hairy on the Inside, 2021, 16 mins 36 secs

Mendick uses the guise of a fertility clinic for Werewolves trying to shed their lonesome curse to explore the often painful and shameful experience of having Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).

Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg, Pancake Moon, 2022, 6 mins 14 secs

This dreamlike stop-motion animation shows a personified egg’s journey through a forest, informed by the artist’s experiences as a new mother.

Daphne Wright, I Know What it’s Like, 2012, 6 minutes

In a haunting and at times uncomfortable evocation of memory, heartache and isolation an elderly woman performs six disrupted statements to camera, exploring social taboos such as breastfeeding, sexuality, ageing and parental coldness.

Total run time approximately 1 hour 25 mins. The full film programme will be shown twice. Feel free to drop in any time between 1pm and 3pm.

Some of the films include very strong language, nudity and adult content – as such, the event is for 18+ adults only and is not suitable for children. Please be aware that some of the works being screened are not subtitled.

Artworks in the Acts of Creation exhibition address important issues surrounding women’s health and wellbeing, including nudity, childbirth, (in)fertility, miscarriage, abortion, loss, domestic abuse, adoption, sterilisation and obstetric violence.