[Pdf-women] Giant Uterus Pre-Birth Sculptures Show the Journey from Conception to Birth

[Soloveni Vitoso]

https://mashable.com/article/damien-hirst-uterus-sculptures-qatar/?europe=true

GIANT UTERUS PRE-BIRTH SCULPTURES SHOW THE JOURNEY FROM CONCEPTION TO BIRTH

['The Miraculous Journey', an art installation by artist Damien Hirst outside the Sidra Medical and Research Centre in Qatar's capital Doha.]
'The Miraculous Journey', an art installation by artist Damien Hirst outside the Sidra Medical and Research Centre in Qatar's capital Doha.
Image: AFP/Getty ImagesSTRINGER/AFP/Getty Images

By Shannon Connellan<https://mashable.com/author/shannon-connellan/> - 2018 November 19
British artist Damien Hirst has officially unveiled 14 colossal bronze uterus sculptures outside a hospital in Qatar, graphically documenting the stages from conception to birth.
The gigantic bronze work is called The Miraculous Journey<http://www.damienhirst.com/news/2013/miraculous-journey>, and begins with the fertilization of an egg, depicts various stages of a fetus growing inside the uterus, and culminates in a 46-foot baby.
Each sculpture ranges from 5 to 11 metres (16 to 36 feet) in height and the whole thing weighs a massive 216 metric tons.
Sitting in Qatar's capital of Doha, the work has been installed outside the newish $8 billion Sidra Medical and Research Centre, which AFP reports<https://www.france24.com/en/20181118-giant-damien-hirst-uterus-sculptures-catch-eye-qatar-hospital> has quite the contemporary art collection, including an installation by fellow British artist Tracey Emin.
Hirst's sculptures were commissioned for $20 million<https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/arts/design/damien-hirsts-anatomical-sculptures-have-their-debut.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0> by art enthusiast and chairwoman of the Qatar Museums Authority, Sheikha al Mayassa Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani (the sister of Qatar's ruling Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani), as part of a set of cultural initiatives<http://www.damienhirst.com/news/2013/miraculous-journey> that "aim to redress the traditional boundaries between eastern and western art in the Middle East."
The sculptures were actually unveiled in October 2013, but were reportedly covered up until the big reveal in October 2018.
[The uterus, 14 ways.]
The uterus, 14 ways before birth. Image: STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images
The official reason, reports AFP, was to protect the sculptures against damage from hospital construction, but the news wire noted that the statue had seen its fair share of social media discussion around its appearance.
"We do not expect everyone to like them, we do not expect everyone to understand them," Layla Ibrahim Bacha, arts specialist at the government-funded Qatar Foundation, told AFP.
"That's why they are here to create an element of debate and reflection. We believe that (the work) reflects Sidra's mission to care for the health of women and babies."
Sheikha al Mayassa Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who commissioned the work, told The New York Times<https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/arts/design/damien-hirsts-anatomical-sculptures-have-their-debut.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0> in 2013, when it was first announced, that she didn't consider the work controversial.
"There is a verse in the Koran about the miracle of birth. It is not against our culture or our religion."
[Behold, the journey from conception to birth, Seriously, you won't be able to miss it, Doha.]
Behold, the journey from conception to birth. Image: STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images
Hirst said that the work came from "a desire to create something monumental, whilst essentially human."
"Ultimately, the journey a baby goes through before birth is bigger than anything it will experience in its human life," he said. "I hope the sculpture will instill in the viewer a sense of awe and wonder at this extraordinary human process."
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