January, Jill

January, 2010
Jill
Mixed Media

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about the piece.
Jill created this piece specifically for "still life 365". She describes the piece:

This is the month when we will meet our subsequent baby. Living or not, this is the month our new child will be born. It occurred to me what an appropriate month it is to welcome a rainbow sibling. January, named for the Roman god Janus the god of new beginnings. Janus is usually depicted with two faces - one of which looks backwards. Few New Year celebrants will remember that Janus is the god of endings too. Few of the non-babylost around us will recognise that a new pregnancy is not simply 'looking forward'. There is so much looking back. This is the bump art I painted on Emma's bump when I was about 36 weeks pregnant. It's been doctored to increase the intensity of the colours. That's me looking back. The second image is the same photograph with the colour  leached out and fed through two digital effects - spiral & wrinkle. That's me, musing on my current relationship with my pregnant body, in the light of my child's death.

about the artist.
Jill's third child (her second daughter), Emma, died during labour at 40 weeks on 14th October 2008. Jill is awaiting the arrival of our fourth child within the next few weeks. She blogs about my beautiful girl and my journey without her at Only a Whisper.