isadora jockims

“Secret”

Video Performance

7’47”

2024

In art history, pregnancy is often portrayed in an idealised manner, focusing on the relationship between mother and child. There is little emphasis on the challenges and emotions a woman undergoes during gestation. The pregnant body - sacred yet public - lacks representation in its naked form. In “secret”, it is exposed.

The video performance evokes the loneliness of navigating through bodily transition. Busy weaving its own cocoon, the body becomes trapped and imprisoned within itself. “Secret” was created by the artist herself during her pregnancy. With an open top and giant needles/spears, it refers to the intrusion of social opinions and emotions.

In dialogue with the work “Passagem” (Passage) by Celeida Tostes, the artist enables her own rebirth from shared experience.