Parto De Mi

PARTO DE MÍ. PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO

How many ways are there to be born? Are there other cultures of birthing? If women refused to give birth, who would do the work of engendering? How to give birth from non-motherhood? Birth from me began its origin in 2017, when I had my first contact with non-hegemonic “mothering” practices on the outskirts of Harare, a native community in Zimbabwe; The experience led me to question the paradigms of the individual-community binomial and other ancestral forms of parenting. Taking as a starting point the metaphor of giving birth to myself, with my own body as a medium, this work investigates the mystery of procreation and questions the ability to gestate in contemporary society. Perhaps it is a criticism of individualis.

After dismantling the burdens of the normative social ideology on motherhood in my creative project Parto, I open up the plan to record other contexts, cultures, and practices of “being a mother” that are not hegemonic and deeply rooted in ancestral forms of upbringing under the title Parto de mí, because the journey always comes back to the mirror itself. Parto de mí goes a step further to delve into “the mystery of procreation” and “questioning the ability to gestate in contemporary society as both a personal and collective phenomenon”, the formalization of which is based on the metaphor of “giving birth to oneself” as a paroxysm of individualism in contemporary neoliberal societies, where I place my body as a space for research and discursive expression. This way, I trace a timeline of gestation and birth marked by the desire and questioning of motherhood over seven years in the context of diverse contemporary societies, which in turn forms a reflection of my more visceral and introspective artistic and vital process.

CREDITS

PHOTOGRAPHY. mireia deulofeu

Styling. Gina Berenguer Barnils

Make-up. catalina sartor

Making of & Video Editing. laura alcalde

Photo Print. egm

Acknowledgments. Orlando Britto Jinorio & Alejandro García Schnetzer

DATA SHEET

Three photographs 130 x 190 cm

Four photographs 190 x 130 cm

Video 15’59’’

PRESENTED AT

15 Bienal de la Habana

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Cuba, 2024 - 2025

DOWNLOADS

DOSSIER

CREDITS

PHOTOGRAPHY. mireia deulofeu

Styling. Gina Berenguer Barnils

Make-up. catalina sartor

Making of & Video Editing. laura alcalde

Photo Print. egm

Acknowledgments. Orlando Britto Jinorio & Alejandro García Schnetzer

DATA SHEET

Three photographs 130 x 190 cm

Four photographs 190 x 130 cm

Video 15’59’’

PRESENTED AT

15 Bienal de la Habana

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Cuba, 2024 - 2025

DOWNLOADS

DOSSIER

THE TRIP TO ZIMBABWE

“Why does this trip to Zimbabwe question me so much, that the flame of being a mother drives my actions during the following years?” reflects the artist, who points out that “that experience took me to question the paradigms of the individual-community binomial and other traditional forms of upbringing.

In this way, Ramos traces a timeline of gestation and birth marked by the desire and questioning of motherhood over seven years in the context of diverse contemporary societies, which in turn forms a reflection of her more visceral and introspective artistic and vital process.

“Conceiving this idea in Zimbabwe, through a shared experience with women, whose center is motherhood, and giving birth in Havana as a closure from a social critique to motherhood in individualistic societies has been symbolically amazing,” the artist expressed.

As for the montage of the exhibition, the path presents as a prelude the video diary “Desde Harare a Parto de mí,” made up of images of her experiences in the African community and sensations narrated in voice-over. This opens up the way to a series of large-format pictures starring the artist “giving birth to herself” through a performative staging inspired by the intersection of various traditions and imageries around procreation and motherhood.

“Once again, my body is the laboratory where I channel all my questions, which in this case arise from the conflict around the concept of motherhood in contemporary societies. Here, I take it to the extreme, almost to narcissism, giving birth to myself, from a critique of individualism,” explains Ramos. “Therefore, the photographs not only picture me giving birth to a head, which is my own 3D head, but also the act of childbirth seen from another point of view, from where we are used to seeing motherhood.”