Museum Edition XXL, AQUADURAL (Ocean Birth) Limited Ed of 5 Photograph

‘Aquadural’ from award-winning fine art series Birth Undisturbed by Natalie Lennard, in Museum Edition XXL on Premium Lustre Rag Paper at 150 x 190cm, limited to 5 +2AP. Artwork comes printed with 2cm border in addition to size stated, accompanied with a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist. Every image in Birth Undisturbed is Giclee printed with OEM 70+ year archival inks. The series is shot on world-class 100 megapixel Phase One IQ3 medium format to provide rich impeccable quality with exceptional detail on both screen and print. ____ “The baby doesn’t come out into a cold world where the force of gravity strikes like the blow from a club. One warm, body-supporting liquid is exchanged for another. The transition to breathing air, to a life on dry land, takes place slowly and softly.” (Erik Sidenbladh, Water Babies). Primitive history as early as 2700B shows women of ancient Crete, Japan, South America and New Zealand birthing in shallow ocean and rivers. To our ancestors the benefits of cleanliness, pain relief and coolness must have been apparent, but the 1960s gave rise to a philosophical body of query on the deeper incentive. Siberian philosopher Igor Tjarkovsky, who delivered thousands of babies in water and believes we originate from the sea 3 billion years ago, claims that waterbirth optimises the newborn brain - a theory which may explain why Ancient Egyptians birthed their chosen priests in water. From the baby’s point of view, the continuity of environment going from one fluid to another, is said to pace the onslaught of traumatic new sensations of light, air, gravity and sound, putting the monumental first breath last, contributing to a calmer transition that will indelibly affect our lifelong “limbic imprint”. ‘Aquadural’ awarded by British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Humanity 2018. Selected by Mother Art Prize 2018. On exhibition at Birth Rites Collection at Kings College London.