Performance of a lifetime: First look at the moment artist gave birth in a gallery
By LYDIA WARREN
Last updated at 7:49 PM on 4th November 2011
It is one of life’s most intimate moments.
But for Marni Kotak, the birth of her son was witnessed by scores of strangers visiting an art gallery.
And the new mother can expect thousands more to see those gruelling moments – as the video of the labour has now been launched at the exhibition.
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Labour of love: Footage of performance artist Marni Kotak giving birth to her son Ajax in a gallery in Brooklyn, New York has been shown for the first time. She is heard groaning as she leans against the birthing pool
The 36-year-old performance artist delivered her son Ajax, who weighed a healthy 9Ibs 2oz, at the Microscope Gallery in Brooklyn, New York on October 25.
In her first televised interview since the birth, she explained she wanted to show that ‘human life is the most profound work of art’.
It comes as the gallery launches the video of Kotak giving birth.
The footage shows the artist gripping the sides of an inflatable birthing pool as she groans in pain.
Birth: The video shows the moment baby Ajax is born and taken from the pool by a midwife
Meet Ajax: It also captures the moment Kotak meets her son, who weighed a healthy 9lbs 2oz
Kotak is in labour for eight hours until, as she leans against the edge of the pool, her son is born.
The video captures the moment the mother meets her son, as a midwife passes the newborn into her arms.
Lying in the pool, Kotak is seen cradling her son as his umbilical cord is cut.
Then, his eyes blinking slowly, the baby is passed to his father, Jason Robert Bell.
The video, shown on Good Morning America, will be added to the gallery, which Kotak had transformed into a birthing room.
It joins a large artwork by Kotak's husband which incorporates the placenta, umbilical cord, and blood tissue. Blood-stained pillows and sheets are now also part of the installation.
Loved: The artist, who said the idea she would give birth in public 'was natural to me', cradles her son
New father: Kotak's husband Jason Robert Bell is captured holding his son for the first time
Kotak said she appreciates some people might find her decision to allow strangers to view the birth odd.
‘It deviates from the norm, so initially people will question: “Why is she doing this? Is she crazy or something?”’ she told Good Morning America.
‘This is my choice, it’s what I wanted to do, this is how I wanted to give birth and I wanted to share the experience with a group of people who are sincerely interested in it.
‘It’s amazing. It’s beautiful. It’s the creation of life. Why should we hide that?’
Audience: Around 20 people visited the gallery, where Kotak had set up a birthing room, to witness the labour
But Kotak, who has been presenting her life-as-performance art for more than 10 years, said she gave the idea little deliberation.
She said: ‘I’ve done re-enactments for everything from my grandfather’s funeral to losing my virginity, so when I learned I was pregnant, which is such a profound life experience, it was natural for me to consider that it would be a performance.’
Her labour lasted eight hours, with people trickling in as the birth approached.
She said: ‘We randomly notified about 15 people and they started coming in at the end of my labour.
‘A lot of them were strangers. But they didn’t feel like strangers, I mean, I was sharing this intimate moment with them and immediately we were friends.
‘Nobody brought any bad energy at all. Everyone was very open and supportive.’
Doting mother: Kotak holds baby Ajax at the gallery in Brooklyn, New York a week after the birth. She had filled the birthing room with her most treasured items, including her grandmother's bed where Ajax was conceived
The birth was the climax to an installation that began on October 8. It saw Kotak talking to visitors in a bedroom setting surrounded by her most treasured objects.
These included her grandmother's bed, where baby Ajax was conceived; a bright green chair in which she was rocked as a baby; videos and photos of her other performance pieces, including re-enactments of her grandfather's funeral and her own birth.
In the interview, she also shows off a trophy she was awarded for the birth.
She said: ‘I think people should be given trophies for everyday activities, especially for something as amazing as giving birth or being born.’
She added: ‘Giving birth is our greatest power. When we go to a hospital, you relinquish that to the rules of the hospital. We’re told in the media that birth is a medical emergency and it’s something to be afraid of and something to be hidden when it’s actually something completely natural that women have been doing since the dawn of time.'
See below for video
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2057662/Marni-Kotak-First-look-moment-artist-gave-birth-gallery.html#ixzz1cnJ5NfeF
