MIDWIFCH

Midwifch - an examination of the persecution of midwives as witches in the Middle Ages.

The witch craze (from the late 14th-17th century) took different forms in different places, but kept its fundemental purpose; to keep women in a continual state of terror and obedience with partiarchal insitutions: the church, politics and domestic life. 

The gatekeeping of women from medicine and healing (roles which many peasant women were pillars of in their community as physicians were for the ruling class) meant that women could not freely or professionally practice midwifery or birth control, for fear of punishment, public shaming or execution. This series of artwork expresses the pain of this silencing, the forced dissociation between women and their intuition, knowledge and sexual independence. 

The church's authority over medicine in the Middle Ages was ubiquitous. Physicians 'cured' in accordance with the bible, as it was the soul that was in need of salvation, not the body. It was the belief in 'The Curse Of Eve' in Genesis 3:16 that was at the heart of women's condemnation and suffering in sexual health:

To the woman He said: 
"I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; 
In pain you shall bring forth children; 
Your desire shall be for your husband, 
And he shall rule over you." 

By depicting this history of women's sexual oppression in these paintings and drawings, I hope we might turn our gazes to current medical institutions. I argue that women's pain and control over their own bodies is still not being taken seriously, reflected in many current medical procedures and the overwhelming minority of women in senior healthcare roles, to name a couple. To fully embrace women's emancipation we must not forget to look back and to learn. 

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