Postpartum depression (PPD) is a serious disorder, even the mildest form of which occurs in 40 to 85% of new mothers after birth. Many resources are available today to help treat it, but in the 1950s, the disorder was not yet recognized. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Sarah Anne Johnson first painted “House on Fire” in 2009, which was also dedicated to her grandmother and depicted her suffering. Years later, through another medium, she created and developed a performance art piece titled “Hospital Hallway.” In the 1950s, Johnson's grandmother suffered from PPD and during that time there was no diagnosis for the disorder. So she checked herself into a psychiatric hospital and, although she thought she was being treated for depression, she actually unknowingly became a test subject for a CIA-funded brainwashing experiment. These tests included prescribing LSD, medically induced sleep, and shock treatments. After a while, she was released and was in even worse condition than when she arrived. Johnson was aware that the PPD is not easy to visualize, and therefore difficult to understand. It is for this reason that she decided to create this piece to help the public understand what it feels like to completely trust "in an institution whose hidden objective is to break your body, your mind and your mind.” She performs this solo piece which depicts the struggle experienced by her grandmother, through the use of movement, space, costume and voice. The costume and mask were used to incorporate her grandmother's customization. The space was an enclosure painted to represent a hospital corridor without doors, hence the title of the artwork. The 30-minute performance consisted of a looping sequence of jarring and cathartic movements such as getting into the fetal position and spinning on the floor. In doing so, Sarah spoke of an instinctive reaction that humans adopt when experiencing trauma or distress. Sarah would also throw herself against the wall in visually awkward or uncomfortable positions and violently shake her body, representing the electric shocks her grandmother received as part of her PPD "treatments." This exhibition lasted for a month, where the public could watch the performance from above, as if they were doctors in an operating room. After the exhibition, his performance was replaced by 13 screens placed on the walls of the enclosure, which showed different movements in a loop. The audience was able to walk around and hear every movement before seeing them, adding to the feeling of anxiety and fear that mothers suffering from PPD would also feel. Overall, Johnson chose to represent one of the most under-discussed topics in motherhood, namely the issue of mental illness as a potential consequence of new motherhood. This abstract work of art is a sculpture created from white travertine marble. It is 4 meters high and 183 centimeters deep. It is formed of a short, round cylindrical base on which is placed a large curved piece placed vertically and another smaller piece above it. The sculpture depicts the image of a mother (being the larger piece), holding her child (the smaller piece). ). The soft, curved shapes evoke a feeling of care and love, reinforcing the idea that motherhood is a beautiful part of life. The child part goes around the parent part, which curves upward to “look down” at thefigure of the child, and they also seem connected as if they were a single entity. This formatting once again suggests the nurturing and caring feelings that the mother feels towards the child. The child's figure seems to look towards the mother, illustrating the trust he has in her. Moore had already created a few versions of the mother and child, all inspired by his mother who he was greatly influenced by. These works were all made of bronze and/or wood, and the use of this material is what he is best known for. In 1983 Moore fell ill and it was in his hospital bed that he came up with the idea for a piece for St Paul's Cathedral. . He was preoccupied with his illness and was determined to create another work before he died. This piece was commissioned by the church, leading him to decide to use travertine marble rather than the bronze he was accustomed to. He wanted to “give it the impression of having a religious connotation” (atceramicsima, nd). This justifies his decisions in terms of choice of material, size of the sculpture and subject. The idea of ​​mother and child is clearly influenced by Duccio's "Madonna and Child", adding to the religious aspect of the artwork. The composition includes two 10-year-old children, back to back near a wall, who have a plastic bag over the upper half of their bodies. The colors used are dull, muted tones and are centered around a gray palette. This medium-sized painting was painted by Gofton in a realistic style, which achieves his goal of instilling a sense of empathy in the viewer. The subject is Gofton's response to the constant anxiety and fear that mothers carry throughout their lives that something bad will happen to their children. This is achieved by attempting to evoke the common worry mothers feel when their children play with plastic bags. The pale color of their skin suggests that it may be too late and they have already suffocated. Their poses are very relaxed, without any sense of struggle to free themselves, which adds to the idea that it is "too late". The subject matter along with the color palette and style combine to evoke a cathartic anxious experience for the viewer. This work represents a fear common to all mothers, and the fact that the subjects are young children combine to make this painting very controversial. The title of the work itself also adds to the controversy. Liminal is defined as “between two different places” (Dictionary.cambridge.org, nd). This perhaps refers to the idea that children are in a void between reality and the afterlife, after suffocation. The term “suffocation” has several layers in this piece. First in the literal sense, the idea of ​​children wrapped in a plastic bag. Second, there may be a deeper layer that plays into the idea that mothers feel stifled when their children start to grow up, because they want them to explore the world, but also want to keep them safe – which leads to mothers to internal conflict. Finally, there is potentially an underlying sense of suffocation on the part of the mother, in her role in motherhood, which Gofton “is not going to deny”. This work is the first in a series called "Liminal", which deals with the theme of motherhood and empathy. Gofton, with this work of art and the series as a whole, wanted viewers to enjoy it but also to be "hit in the gut first because that's what it feels like" (Nelson, nd). Gofton, in this particular work of art, wanted Gofton herself to be a mother and her way of “counseling” (Nelson, n.d.) herself was through this series. It is important to understand that despite the shocking subject matter, love is.