Year: 2015

Medium: Photography, sculpture

Materials: Photography (artists own and found photograph)

Bella speaks about the work:

“The work shows two framed photographs, one taken in 1986, the other made in 2015. The original, taken by my father, shows my mother holding my older sister, Eleanor, who died at her birth. The original image - the moment only experienced by those present. The reproduction - my own encounter of the event. 

Framing the photographs gives weight to them as sculpture, forcing you to search for meaning. This lies in their subtle differences; how as my mother held her, I hold the photograph; as they remember, I imagine. This seemingly posed yet spontaneous image is a unique picture of intimacy; clinicians and parent, each of them alone but fundamentally woven together in the moment. 

I wanted to show the beauty in this. Even in this most painful and tensioned state, death on the cusp of life can reveal greater meaning of life itself, which transcends any personal story.”

Sharing The Gift From Eleanor was the winner of the Birth Rites Collection Bi-Annual Award 2015, and is featured in their permanent collection housed at the University of Kent. Find out more about the Birth Rites Collection here.