This Irish artist’s latest exhibition explores the emotional complexity of pregnancy and miscarriage

The first of the three works, “Divine Loss”, was inspired by Amelia’s experience of miscarriage last year. She says she was struck by the lack of public discourse, limited institutional guidance, and the reliance on informal or marginal sources of information.

Simultaneously, she was moved by personal accounts, often shared only in private, despite the fact that it is an incredibly common experience. She noted the power of these stories was absent from the art world, and sought to give form and dignity to a reality that is widely lived, yet rarely represented.

The second work, currently in progress, considers pregnancy as a state of simultaneous empowerment and loss. As Amelia prepares to welcome her third child, the piece reflects on what is gained through pregnancy – strength, creation, bodily agency – alongside what is altered or relinquished over time – desirability and hedonism. The work presents pregnancy as both generative and destabilising, marked by a shifting sense of self. 

The final piece in the series is a fabric sculpture of a tarnished silver urn – a family heirloom – constructed using silk lurex fused with burel wool to mimic metal while providing structural integrity. It evokes an object associated with containment, lineage, and the carrying of life, while rendering metal in fabric introduces a considered tension between softness and endurance, reflecting the dual qualities of vulnerability and resilience that underpin motherhood and the collection as a whole.

You can see more of Amelia’s work in the gallery below.