Hannah Norris

Throughout history a women’s worth has been weighed through motherhood, or lack of. A graphite talisman embodies a uterine form opening into a scarred emptiness, hanging from fleshy cyst-like pearls. Void-like, the graphite marks and dirties the wearer with its impurity, invoking taboo. Pearls have long been a symbol of femininity and fertility, upholding the idea of the 'perfect woman'. The use of my great-grandmothers pearls within my past practice represents the countless generations of women who came before me, whose line will end with me. As foetuses, we already hold all the eggs we will ever possess. A grand-daughter within a mother, within a grand-mother - three generations as one. Within myself, I hold the foundations of my granddaughters, never to be. This work is a reflection of my fertility issues, and a journey of longing, loss, grief and acceptance.