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Judy Chicago, Birth Tear/Tear, macrame over drawing on fabric, 46 x 55.5 in., needlework by Pat Rudy-Baese, private collection. © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
“Judy Chicago collaborated with more than 150 needleworkers during the Birth Project to create dozens of images combining painting and needlework that celebrate various aspects of the birth process; from the painful to the mythical.
“In Birth Tear/Tear (1985), a woman strains to birth and nurture her children who cling to and grab for her. The “double tear” of the title refers to the 50/50 possibility of perineal tears during childbirth, but also refers to the weeping of the figure in response to her struggle with motherhood. This image relates to Chicago’s imagery embracing the truth and beauty of being female; the birth cavity/flower/place of creation, where life is both fertilized and delivered in the natural world.
“Pregnant people can utilize this artwork in the visualization of birth, meditating first on the magnitude of the piece and the sheer greatness that emanates from the scene depicted. Based on some of Chicago’s other work, namely her crowning achievement, Dinner Party, it is likely that Chicago is implying some significant greatness of the act of birth, comparable even to the sacred greatness found in some religious traditions. Regardless of the work’s actual meaning, there is a potency to Chicago’s image of birth, reminding the viewer that birth is a powerful, if not spiritual experience. Connecting herself to this universal thread of birth, the pregnant woman becomes empowered as she prepares to labor and undergo birth as a rite of passage.”
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