Local artist marks International Women’s day with a powerful photography exhibition

International Women’s Day on March 8th unites women globally across borders, race and religion and this year one courageous photographer from Northern Ireland will speak out and break the silence on one of the greatest remaining taboos of modern female life: the hysterectomy.

Sonya Whitefield mingles raw imagery and ethereal poetry with an unshrinking honesty to reveal the ordinary and extraordinary worlds of this emotional, mental and physical body experience in her exhibition Journey of the Hysterectic Woman.

Her photography is renowned for making us think about challenging life situations, making us question conventional perception and connecting us to the surreal in ordinary and everyday life. With this work, Whitefield creates a visual diary, capturing feelings of detachment and otherworldliness, which reflects the stark sterility of the clinical situation and surroundings. Whitefield’s request for the return of her womb is reverentially dealt with in the final surprising sequence of images.

Cherry Smyth, poet and art critic said, “This is a skilful, resonant documentation of a woman’s determination to humanise and feminise the experience of having a hysterectomy. It is a stunning, affecting, unforgettable piece of work that deserves to be seen widely not just by girls and women, but by men who care for them and also came from that intimate source.”

Whitefield said, “A hysterectomy is a traumatic, invasive and all too often unspoken journey. Using photography I took control over my own experience, capturing images of my medical and spiritual journey. I used my art as a tool for personal transformation and recovery during a process that can be damaging to both the female body and psyche. I hope the work will help other women share experiences of this life-changing operation and stimulate much needed conversations around the subject.”

Whitefield has created a stunning, limited edition, art book, ‘Hysterectic’, to accompany the exhibition. In an original and powerful way it blends stark and beautiful photographs with elements of hysteria, Hippocrates and poetry.

Journey of the Hysterectic Woman and ‘Hysterectic’ is officially launched by award winning, Northern Irish poet, Maria Mc Manus on the 4th March, 6pm – 7pm at The Golden Thread Gallery. The exhibition runs from 25th February until 18th March 2010.
ends

Note(s) to Editor:
For further information, interview or images contact Aly Jones on +44(0) 7904312899 or email alyson@inbox.com

Sonya Whitefield, née Cromie, born Moy 1964, is an artist based in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
She studied photography at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design and has exhibited her work nationally and internationally.
Whitefield currently works for the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. www.sonyawhitefield.com

The Golden Thread Gallery 84 – 94 Great Patrick Street, Belfast. BT1 2LU. tel.++44(0)28 9033 0920 e. info@gtgallery.co.uk

alyson mcelroy jones

+44(0) 7904312899
alyson@inbox.com