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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://mashable.com/article/damien-hirst-uterus-sculptures-qatar/?europe=true">https://mashable.com/article/damien-hirst-uterus-sculptures-qatar/?europe=true</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">GIANT UTERUS PRE-BIRTH SCULPTURES SHOW THE JOURNEY FROM CONCEPTION TO BIRTH<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="lead-image"></a><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><img border="0" width="759" height="427" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image007.jpg@01D484BA.E4FEBBF0" alt="'The Miraculous Journey', an art installation by artist Damien Hirst outside the Sidra Medical and Research Centre in Qatar's capital Doha."></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">'The Miraculous Journey', an art installation by artist Damien Hirst outside the Sidra Medical and Research Centre in Qatar's capital Doha.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Image: AFP/Getty ImagesSTRINGER/AFP/Getty Images<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">By
</span><a href="https://mashable.com/author/shannon-connellan/"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:blue">Shannon Connellan</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">
– 2018 November 19 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The gigantic bronze work is called
</span><a href="http://www.damienhirst.com/news/2013/miraculous-journey" target="_blank"><i><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:blue">The Miraculous Journey</span></i></a><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">,
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. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Each sculpture ranges from 5 to 11 metres (16 to 36 feet) in height and the whole thing weighs a massive
216 metric tons. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Sitting in Qatar's capital of Doha, the work has been installed outside the newish $8 billion Sidra
Medical and Research Centre, which </span><a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20181118-giant-damien-hirst-uterus-sculptures-catch-eye-qatar-hospital" target="_blank"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:blue">AFP
reports</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> has quite the contemporary art collection, including an installation by fellow British artist Tracey Emin.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/arts/design/damien-hirsts-anatomical-sculptures-have-their-debut.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0" target="_blank"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:blue">Hirst's
sculptures were commissioned for $20 million</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> 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 </span><a href="http://www.damienhirst.com/news/2013/miraculous-journey" target="_blank"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:blue">cultural
initiatives</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> that "aim to redress the traditional boundaries between eastern and western art in the Middle East."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The sculptures were actually unveiled in October 2013, but were reportedly covered up until the
<span style="color:#C00000">big reveal in October 2018. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="m!3df5"></a><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><img border="0" width="781" height="417" id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image008.jpg@01D484BA.E4FEBBF0" alt="The uterus, 14 ways."></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The uterus, 14 ways before birth. Image: STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">"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. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">"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."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><a name="m!4744"></a><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Sheikha al Mayassa Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who commissioned the work, told
</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/arts/design/damien-hirsts-anatomical-sculptures-have-their-debut.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0" target="_blank"><i><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:blue">The New
York Times</span></i></a><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> in 2013, when it was first announced, that she didn't consider the work controversial. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">"There is a verse in the Koran about the miracle of birth. It is not against our culture or our religion."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="m!9ac6"></a><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><img border="0" width="780" height="479" id="Picture_x0020_5" src="cid:image009.jpg@01D484BA.E4FEBBF0" alt="Behold, the journey from conception to birth, Seriously, you won't be able to miss it, Doha."></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Behold, the journey from conception to birth. Image: STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Hirst said that the work came from "a desire to create something monumental, whilst essentially human."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">"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."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">_______________________________________________<o:p></o:p></p>
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