The Birth Project

The Birth Exchange Project consists of a diverse and surprising collection of prints and stories. In this project, women printmakers were asked to reveal their most authentic experiences related to birth, to share what their real experience has been and how they feel about it. Women from all walks of life and geographic locations have been brought together to explore the subject of potential or actualized motherhood in this International exchange.

Many themes have emerged in the course of this project. An artist from Venezuela explores the “thorniness and stigma” of post-partum depression, while an African woman looks at loss and healing surrounding “the birth that didn’t happen”. Women connecting with other women, has been the primary focus of this project. Wherever the work is exhibited, there is an invitation for viewers to share their own experiences in writing, thereby becoming part of an ever-growing collection of stories.

This project, which was initiated and organized by Sylvia Taylor and Pat Hunsinger, printmakers from USA, was originally exhibited at the Mid America print Council, Athens, Ohio in September 2006 and features work by printmakers from USA, Australia, Israel, Africa, Ireland, China, Canada, Argentina, Venezuela, Belgium and Switzerland.