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Frozen by Adinda van 't Klooster
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Porcelain Uterus- Fundal Height Measurements by Adinda van 't Klooster
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The Problem with Chance by Adinda van 't Klooster
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Adinda van 't Klooster in front of Each Egg a World
Exhibition
Still Born: Adinda van 't Klooster
20 Mar 2018 – 21 Apr 2018
Event times
Wed - Sat 12-4pm
Cost of entry
FREE
Address
- Stepney Bank
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- NE1 2NP
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- Buses: Quaylink Q2 or Stage Coach No's: 12, 39, 40, 62 or 63.
- The nearest metro is Manors - from here it's approx 10 minutes walk to Northern Print.
- Northern Print is a 20 minute walk from Newcastle city centre or 25 minutes walk from Central Station.
exhibition of artwork about, and informed by, the artist's experience of stillbirth and launch of accompanying book.
About
Artist Adinda van ‘t Klooster gave birth to a stillborn daughter, Elvira Elena, in 2010. Since then she has been making artwork about, and informed by, this experience.
The Still Born project aims to lift some of the taboos on the delicate subject matter of stillbirth, speaking through art and poetry about the emotions that arise in the days, months and years that follow.
Adinda said ‘The artworks in Still Born were made over a seven-year period and charts the different stages one goes through in grief. Denial and anger are represented in the early porcelain uterus pieces. Tree of Sadness, made in 2013, highlights feelings of deep sadness and isolation. In my most recent work I have been able to take more distance and approach the subject matter as a societal problem, not just a personal one’.
The artist's new book Still Born, published on 22 March, combines some of her artwork with personal responses by eight poets. It also includes an essay by the artist about her experience giving context and background to the work, as well as a piece by stillbirth specialist Alexander Heazell of Tommy’s Stillbirth Research Centre at the University of Manchester.Frozen from 2017, which illustrates the front cover of the book, is a drawing based on an x-ray made of Adinda’s stillborn daughter in 2010. The image shows the reality of stillbirth, a baby frozen in time, a baby with no future.
Drawing Elvira’s skeleton in intricate detail it struck the artist that the skeleton was smiling and she concluded that we are born to smile, more so than that we are meant to disappear into our sadness. The drawing thus aims to give hope to women in the earlier stages of grief and show that, although it will never disappear, it does become a lighter load to bear.
The poems in the book have been written in direct response to the artwork and engage with the central theme of loss. Some of the poets have their own personal experience of stillbirth, miscarriage or the death of a baby later in life, some have witnessed the loss and pain of stillbirth in others. The poets are Roger Bloor, Christine Bousfield, Jennie Farley, Rebecca Goss, Sarah James, Karen Mc Carthy Woolf, Claire Potter and Wendy Pratt.
Still Born by Adinda van ‘t Klooster is published on 22 March 2018 by Affect Formations Publishing
46pp ISBN: 978-1-9999657-0-9. The book can be purchased from www.adindavantklooster.com
Dr. Adinda van ’t Klooster is a Newcastle-based Dutch artist who works with drawing, sculpture, light,
animation, sound and interactive installation and performance. Her work has received many awards and grants and has been commissioned throughout the UK and exhibited, screened and published internationally.
Still Born is funded by Arts Council England, crowdfunding and support from Northern Print and New Writing North in Newcastle, Tommy’s Stillbirth Research Centre in Manchester and the National Institute for Health Research
