Whitney McVeigh's 'Birth: Origins at the End of Life'

Below is an excerpt from the film Birth: Origins at the End of Life (Pulse Films, 2015), by American artist Whitney McVeigh, currently Fellow in Creative Practice, London College of Fashion. The film records six women at St. Christopher's Hospice, Sydenham (Southeast London), as they talk about birth,  including its physical and psychological effects, motherhood, and life and death. 

An intimate, insightful, and moving film, Birth: Origins at the End of Life is featured in McVeigh's solo exhibition "Language of Memory" at the creative arts complex Summerhall, Edinburgh, Scotland. The exhibition, which includes a sound installation and hand-drawn and written reflections, opens December 12 and continues through March 9, 2016. (Read a description of the exhibition.)

McVeigh, whose artwork is largely film-based, undertook research as part of a project, Human Fabric, at London College of Fashion; her idea was to explore the human body as "vessel, container and carrier of stories and memories" and, in particular, how older women at the end of their lives recall giving birth and caring for their children. McVeigh spoke April 27, 2015, at the Royal Academy of Arts about her fascinating project; listen to the 51:35-minute podcast. 

My thanks to The Guardian for the link.