Belinda Kochanowska

© Belinda Kochanowska, 'Germination', 2014, DIEP.org.uk

Belinda Kochanowska (Australia, Queensland)
Germination & The Eden of My Flesh (2014), from the series My Flesh Is Your Flesh
Archival pigment prints

ARTIST STATEMENT:

I created the series My Flesh Is Your Flesh during the pregnancy and early months after the birth of my first child. This was a period of intense personal creativity and a significant departure from previous work. It is the genesis of an exploration of pregnancy and motherhood which I will continue to explore in my artistic career.

For various reasons, pregnancy was personally challenging and far from the romanticised experience perpetuated in popular culture. My art was an outlet to express my psychological, spiritual and physical experience of pregnancy. I could express what I feared to otherwise share.

I became fascinated with 16th, 17th and 18th century anatomical, botanical and natural history illustrations from various public domain collections. This fascination led to the construction of deeply introspective works teaming with the fleshy distortions, flora, fauna, fantasies and fears which inhabited my pregnant imagination.

“Drawing equivocal reactions of horror and fascination, Kochanowska’s images echo those moments of pregnancy fraught with terrors of unhealthy children, post-natal depression and parental anxiety.” Dr Laini Burton

Belinda Kochanowska completed a BA in Photography at Queensland College of Art in 2012. Since then, her work has been exhibited across Australia, the USA and UK.

www.belindakochanowska.com