Together4Bristol : Birth Online: Birth Offline - Is Birth Still Spiritual When Watched by Millions?

Will you join in the media debate: Birth Online: Birth Offline - Is Birth Still Spiritual When Watched by Millions?

OBEM5MedRessmaller51

On the 10th March at 9pm, myself and husband Adam will feature on Channel 4's 'One Born Every Minute' (Episode 3). I have been awarded a commission to make an artwork about the experience, for the forthcoming Birth Rites Collection art exhibition, which will tour the country in 2015. Birth Online: Birth Offline is a cross-cultural participatory arts project exploring varying communities' perspectives on the idea of public birth, and the exhibition will include the work of 10 artists. It will be curated by the director of the Birth Rites Collection, Helen Knowles, who manages the permanent collection currently on display in the Midwifery Directorate, University of Salford and the Royal Collage of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London.

My approach to both the filming of my son's birth and to the making of new work is to ask whether the photographic can convey an authentic Christian spirituality. Do hospitals and cameras negate the space and place for the acknowledgement of God in labour and birth? What happens to prayer and the Bible when the medical and the media create the primary narrative of this incredible event? Can an online community contribute to or even reveal the sense of the miraculous alongside the visceral reality?

Interwoven with the stories of two other couples, this episode will be watched by millions. In the online discussion during and following its screening, it is my intention to join in and document the responses to our story, and I would like to invite you to be part of this. You can tweet, using the hashtags #OneBorn and/or #Birth_rites. You can go on the Facebook pages of One Born and/or the Birth Rites Collection. You can email, Facebook, or tweet me directly (links below); or respond to my blog posts. There is an abundance of opportunities to get some discussion going, which will inform and shape the future work. To this end, your contributions will be considered public unless you specifically say otherwise.

Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you,
Sheona Beaumont