We have partnered with the newly launched Tommy’s National Centre for Preterm Birth Research and Imperial College London to run a series of participatory commissions over the next 3-5 years. These new artworks will eventually become part of the Birth Rites Collection.
Sarah Sudhoff is a Cuban-American artist and community advocate based in Houston, Tx. Utilizing socially engaged and participatory actions, her work explores the intimate themes of motherhood, illness, vulnerability, and mortality through her gendered, bodily, and lived experiences. Sudhoff's works can be categorized into three areas of concern: Ethics of Care (healthcare/ self-care), Artistic Social Practice, and Data Visualization. Her practice holds the subjective and objective in tension. And she believes that the personal echoes a much larger political arena of current events.
Sudhoff explores through her intimate photographs and performance themes of subjectivity, objectivity, and vulnerability in her works, with a particular focus on self-care and the care of others.
Her work has been exhibited at Blaffer Art Museum, McNay Art Museum, Donggang Photo Museum, Austin Museum of Art, Pioneer Works, Luckman Gallery, Magenta Foundation, Filter Photo, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, Galveston Arts Center, and the Colorado Photographic Arts Center.
Articles including her work have appeared in The New York Times, Wired, Time, Cabinet, and Southwest Contemporary. Sudhoff’s research and residencies have been supported by Artpace, Tiffany Foundation, Penland School of Craft, McColl Art Center, Houston Arts Alliance, Kinsey Institute, the DoSeum, and DOMUS Artist Residency in Italy.
Sudhoff’s recent exhibitions include; Massey Klein Gallery, New York; grayDuck, Austin; Andrew Durham Gallery, Houston; Sculpture Month Houston; Gatewood Gallery, UNC, Greensboro; and Visual Arts Center, Richmond.
Sudhoff completed an MFA in Photography from Parsons School of Design, New York, and a BA in Journalism and Photography from the University of Texas at Austin.
Unspoken Beginnings: Poetic Reflections on Black Women's Pre-Term Births
Birth Rites Collection is working with Jamaican Poet, Courtney Conrad, to collaborate with men and women in the community, up and down the UK, to explore important ideas connected with preterm birth.
Call for Black Women with Experience of Pre-Term Birth.
We invite Black women to share their personal experiences with pre-term birth. Whether it happened recently or long ago, your story matters, and we would love to hear from you. Your voice will inspire a creative poetic response, honoring your experiences. Age and time since your birth experience are not factors—if you've experienced pre-term birth, your contribution is deeply valued.
Participants will attend two one-hour sessions, and you can also opt to join a special poetry workshop that will guide you in reclaiming your narrative around pre-term birth. This workshop will offer poetic prompts to help you tell your story in your own words, with the support of poetry facilitator Courtney Conrad, a Jamaican poet based in England.
Please note that travel will be covered and a £100 voucher for your participation will be provided.
Sonia and Florenca - portrait from the series ‘One Day Young’ by Jenny Lewis. Courtesy of the artist and Birth Rites Collection.
