Background to BRC

Birth Rites Collection was founded by curator, Helen Knowles in 2009. This was following a touring exhibition curated by Knowles working alongside Phoebe Mortimer on public programmes. Birth Rites commissioned 5 artworks by Hermione Wiltshire, Ping Qiu, Suzanne Holtom, Jaygo Bloom and Andy Lawrence and premiered at the Glasgow Science Centre and Manchester Museum in 2008.

Birth Rites is a collection of contemporary art on childbirth. The first of it’s kind in the world. It was housed in the Mary Seacole Building in the Midwifery School at the University of Salford from 2009-2017 and King’s College, London from 2017 - 2021, across four buildings on Guy’s Campus. The collection is currently housed at the University of Kent and comprises photography, sculpture, painting, artist books, print, wallpaper, drawing, new media and film.

Birth Rites Collection aims to facilitate the production of new cutting edge works by artists who might not normally address the subject because of its taboo status within contemporary art practice, to support the work of artists whose work already engages with issues on this subject and to acquire relevant existing works to expand the collection.

Through the presentation and dissemination of the work in the public domain, BRC encourages debate and increases awareness around childbirth practice. The project highlights issues like the shift towards medical intervention in birth and explores the impact of biomedical advances in technology. We explore whether society’s focus on propelling women on to an equal footing with men in the workplace, erodes their importance as mothers and investigate how free women are to give birth in a way they want.

The Birth Rites Collection considers who controls the process of childbirth and why.