Mère
Julie Scheurweghs
Kult Books
English
Softcover
Limited Edition of 200
148 pages
160 x 220 mm
2021
ISBN 9789198405996
In her debut book Mère, we see the artist Julie Scheurweghs in different stages of labour. Scheurweghs’ natural home birth took 16 hours, and while being by her side, the whole process was closely documented by her partner. Later, while going through the photographs Scheurweghs noticed the details that accurately matched her recollections from the day. She claimed the photographs by cropping them to their bare essence, creating a new body of work showing the intensity of the experience. The skin-close, uncensored and heartfelt photographs of heavy contractions alternated with calm moments in between show us not only a baby being born, but the birth of a mother as well.
“When I became pregnant I was extremely afraid of giving birth. The way delivery is depicted in media – screaming mothers surrounded by doctors – combined with horror stories from family of epidurals not working made me dread ever having to push a baby out. But as my pregnancy progressed I started to research on natural births and found comfort in seeing images of women in labour on social media. It gave me a sense of relief and I came to understand it doesn’t need to be a negative experience, but could in fact be an empowering one. There is a great power in giving birth, one of transformation, hope and new beginnings. I want to share this with the world and I hope that women can find comfort in the work.“
Scheurweghs’ work is centered around womanhood: what it means to be a woman in this world, motherhood, intimate family life, and the female view. Ever since becoming a mother herself, Scheurweghs has focused on documenting the experience of giving birth in particular.
(source: https://www.artibooks.com/julie-scheurweghs/julie-scheurweghs-mre)
About the Artist
Julie Scheurweghs (b. 1988) living and working in Brussels, has had a love for the photographic image from when she was a little girl. After getting a Masters degree in LUCA school of arts in 2010, she went on to teach there for 3 years. After her first Solo Exhibition called ‘Accidentally on purpose’ in Amsterdam in 2012 she quickly made her Belgian solo debut in Knokke and has had numerous solo and group shows since. Scheurweghs’s work is centred around womanhood : what it means to be a woman in this world, motherhood, intimate family life, the female view. Within these themes Scheurweghs has a fascination with the everyday, often dismissed as mundane. By shifting focus of changing the context, Scheurweghs is able to show a beauty that would otherwise go unseen.
juliescheurweghs.com
(source: https://www.juliescheurweghs.com/about))
About the Publisher
Kult Books is an independent publishing project run by Janne Riikonen in Stockholm, Sweden. Kult Books publishes photography books and other lens based visual arts in monographs and artists’ books. Kult embraces personal artistic approach and visual language. The physical form of the books are of high importance to Kult and every project is designed in detail together with the artist to support the concept of the work.
kultbooks.com
(source: https://www.kultbooks.com/about)
