Talks About The Birth Rites Collection

The Adventures of a Birth Photographer

Welcome to episode 20 – On this week's episode, I'm thrilled to be joined by Helen Knowles who's an artist and the curator of the Birth Rites Collection and also Hermione Wiltshire who's also an artist and the co-head of a photography program at the Royal College of Art.

In this episode, I invited both Helen and Hermione to tell me all about how the Birth Rites Collection was born and about the works that reside within it.

The Birth Rites Collection is one of the largest collections of contemporary artwork dedicated to childbirth in the world. During our chat, we also touched on the topic of the censorship of childbirth and the public's reactions to some of the work.

We also cover how the pandemic has forced the tours to go online and how they are now available to a much wider audience. The link to book virtual tours is in the show notes.

If you have a combined love of birth and art – this is definitely one to tune into!

Show Notes

The Birth Rites Collection Website: https://www.birthritescollection.org.uk/

The BRC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/birthritescollection/

Helen Knowles Artwork: Youtube Portraits - https://www.birthritescollection.org.uk/the-collection-1/helen-knowles

Hermione Wiltshire Artwork: Therese in Ecstatic Childbirth - https://www.birthritescollection.org.uk/the-collection-1/hermione-wiltshire

The winner of the 2020 BRC competition was Marta Stysiak for her work titled – Badland. There is a Premiere of Marta's Stysiak film called 'Come Home' follow the link for details: https://www.birthritescollection.org.uk/events/premiere-of-come-home-a-documentary-film-by-marta-stysiak

Information and how to book up and coming Virtual Tours of the collection: https://www.birthritescollection.org.uk/tours

Works We Touched on During the Podcast:

Private View by Liv Pennington - https://www.birthritescollection.org.uk/the-collection-1/liv-pennington

Islands of Blood and Longing by Tabitha Moses - https://www.birthritescollection.org.uk/the-collection-1/tabitha-moses

A Massive Nothing by Claire Lawrie - https://www.birthritescollection.org.uk/the-collection-1/claire-lawrie

A Link with the Past by Billie Bond - https://www.birthritescollection.org.uk/the-collection-1/billie-bond

Podcast Cover by: Belinda Kochanowska, In Utero, 2014, Archival Pigment Prints, 60 x 60 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Birth Rites Collection – https://www.birthritescollection.org.uk/more-works/belinda-kochanowska You can also find more of Belindas work on Instagram: https://instagram.com/belindakochanowska