In my graduation project, called “Sara”, I have used casts of my body and made a self-portrait depicting me as a pregnant woman with a cat head, surrounded by ghost-babies. Behind the figure rises a structure of metal and concrete, where snakes and doves slither up the scaffold, intertwined in an embrace that is both love and violence.
This piece tells the story of how I felt forced into a dark and frightening part of nature during my pregnancy. I had an uncomplicated pregnancy, yet I have never felt so close to death as I did in the act of creating life — the fragility of life was overwhelmingly tangible. The experience of being so close to nature and aware of my body’s abilities and limitations made me want to imagine myself as an animal, in order to endure the process.
In this installation, the pregnant cat-woman is surrounded by a dark nature, yet she radiates a playful and expressive energy, as if she’s ready for anything.
For more works, see my website https://stellabeling.com/
