The 4th Trimester

Elena Murphy

For my thesis exhibition, I have created an installation titled The 4th Trimester; it’s an honest telling of my own experience with maternity. The 4th Trimester is composed of garments from my son’s infancy, each embroidered with text or images depicting the connection between mother and infant, as well as the domestic work associated with motherhood. The garments, such as clothing, cloth diapers, and blankets, are white and grey with navy blue thread where I have hand-stitched contour drawings of our daily connectedness. The stitched imagery includes depictions of maternity, domesticity, and maternal bonding. By displaying the artwork on laundry lines the viewer is encouraged to draw parallels between domestic work as art.