‘Anxious Touch’
Monotype Layered Gel with Ink Drawings on board
Mixed Media
46cm x 61cm
Valeriya N-Georg
‘Deepest Imprints’ – Installation of two artworks created especially for Tomorrow’s Child exhibition at the Houses of Parliament Westminster
Collaboration between Artist – Valeriya N-Georg and Scientist – Kitty Hagenbach
Below is Kitty Hagenbach's abstract paper.
DEEPEST IMPRINTS
“Emotion-based mother-infant attachment communications are essential because they directly affect the development of the brain” Dr Allan Schore.1
Valeriya’s artworks depict mother and baby in the womb – our introduction to the world. They highlight the powerful impact of a pregnant mother’s psychological, emotional and physical state on her child’s development during the first 1001 days.
The emerging science of epigenetics reveals that genes can be switched on and off by the environment, therefore the experience in utero exerts a significant influence on a baby’s life-long mental and physical development; our health at every level is determined by our experience in the womb.2
‘Perfect Harmony’ shows mother and baby in attunement; baby feels safe, secure, trusting and loved. Successful prenatal bonding fosters secure attachment, a crucial foundation for all subsequent development. A contented baby is a joy to care for and likely to meet their developmental milestones and reach their full potential.3
“Meeting these emotional needs fosters secure attachment. Secure attachment leads to a background state of emotional wellbeing, and emotional wellbeing is critical to physical wellbeing.’1
‘Anxious Touch’ offers a contrasting reality; mother and baby looking away from one another as though appealing to the outside world for help. This mother appears unsupported, stressed, perhaps frightened. Her baby seems equally disturbed, anxiously kicking out while caressing mother’s face, seeking to comfort her. We sense baby’s insecurity, isolation, confusion and fear. This reduces the likelihood of reaching full term or later being able bond or attach securely. A stressed baby is difficult to care for, and may develop behavioural or mental health problems.4
We have an opportunity and a duty to raise worldwide awareness of the crucial importance of the first 1001 days. Our goal is to make available and accessible a range of early interventions and support for pregnant women and their families. By enhancing the experience of mothers and the babies they carry we can foster a healthier, more compassionate and caring society, reducing dependence on government and world resources.
Collaborating with Valeriya has been truly inspiring; the fingers in her images reference the many ways in which we touch one another. Artist and scientist, yet we are united in our conviction that every aspect of mother’s experience during pregnancy has a formative influence upon her baby. I feel the images born out of our shared understandings convey with great clarity the importance of nurturing our life enhancing ‘Deepest Imprints’.
Kitty Hagenbach MA Dip Psych
Perinatal and Parent/Child Psychotherapist.
1 Schore A on Life Long Health http://www.letsgrowkids.org/blog/dr-allan-schore-early-relationships-lifelong-health#sthash.SHmlct1q.dpuf [accessed 16 May 2016].
2 Glover V, June 2014, Royal College of Psychiatrists The impact of prenatal depression, stress and anxiety on the emotional, behavioural and cognitive development of the child; implications for prenatal psychiatry.http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/IC14 S32 Glover Vivette.pdf [accessed18 May2016].
3 Wirth, F, Prenatal Parenting, chapter 1, page 7, Regan Books, USA, 2001.
4 Gerhardt, S, Why Love Matters, chapter 1 page 21, 2nd edition, Routeledge, UK, 2015.
Date: 20/05/2016
