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Malak Mattar: The terror of being A PREGNANT WOMAN IN G*ZA during the ongoing genocid#e
The terror of being A PREGNANT WOMAN IN G*ZA during the ongoing genocid#e, Oil on canvas
Image description: This is a painted image. A woman lies curled up on a black and cream coloured checkered floor and against a grey/white painterly background. Her body is red, her hands are a peach colour covering her head. Her brown hair is in a bun. A line of blue follows the contour of her curled back and foot. Inside her belly is a baby's face with eyes of black with white central spots staring into the viewer.
Ruth De Souza: How to give birth under fire 23rd March 2024.
A response to the powerful image by Palestinian artist Malak Mattar,
The terror of being A PREGNANT WOMAN IN G*ZA during the ongoing
genocid#e, Oil on canvas.
Instead of lying on the floor cowering, your body protecting your belly, your yet-to-be-born baby, your eyes– I wish that you were sitting or lying comfortably, smiling, anticipating, awaiting with joy.
Instead of starving, being malnourished, frightened, or sick because access to food and medicine has been deliberately withheld– I wish that there was a ceasefire, that the world would make this genocide stop. I wish that you were healthy and happy with a full belly.
Instead of going through pregnancy and birth alone– I wish that your partner and loved ones were able to nurture you in the ways families and communities have always done through this life-changing transition.
Instead of birthing in a dangerous environment amongst shelling and bombing or in temporarily safe places where threats to safety are imminent, with stress hormones rushing through your system, risking prematurity– I wish that oxytocin and all the love in the world were surrounding you.
Instead of giving birth in your destroyed home or the rubble-filled floors of the hospital– I wish that you were birthing somewhere safe.
Instead of living with terror and not knowing how to trust your own body adequately to birth a baby into a perilous world– I wish this agony and suffering would stop and you could uncoil, you could rest, relax, and give birth.
Instead of the uncertainty of not knowing whether your baby will safely arrive into the loving embraces of family and community– I wish that you were surrounded by the love of family and health professionals who bring energy, support, knowledge, wisdom, and care.
Instead of destroyed hospitals and health facilities, and health professionals who have been tortured, injured, and killed. I wish skilled personnel had all the resources and support they needed to provide kind, expert care. That hospitals and healthcare staff could save or heal.
Instead of needing an emergency caesarean without anaesthetic or pain relief, or risking death for you and your infant due to the lack of medical supplies– I wish that you had everything you needed to bring you all safely through birth.
Instead of trying to breastfeed and care for this new life, when death and destruction surround you. I wish for the post-partum care that you might expect. Rest, special foods, love and nurturing so you could mother your newborn and maybe other children, and be mothered in turn.
Instead of being made vulnerable to an occupying force, fatigued, displaced, starved, and at risk of developing pre-eclampsia, haemorrhages, or dying–I wish that you were rested, fed, and resourced so you could navigate this transition.
Not a single one of the 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza should be going through this terror.
Malak Mattar is a Palestinian artist, writer and illustrator from Gaza. She studied political science and international relations at Istanbul Aydin University, Turkey (2022). Her artwork drew interest from galleries and museums around the world during the assault on Gaza in 2014. She participated in individual and group exhibitions in Costa Rica, England, France, India, Palestine, Scotland, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, and the USA. Malak illustrated and wrote her first book Sitti’s Bird: A Gaza Story. Her work can be found at her instagram here and We Are Not Numbers here
Image supplied by and copyright to the artist.
Dr Ruth De Souza is a nurse, writer, community-engaged researcher, and consultant. Ruth hosts the Birthing and Justice podcast, featuring conversations about birth, racism, and cultural safety. She is a Fellow of The Australian College of Nursing and Honorary Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences - Te Ara Hauora A Pūtaiao at Auckland University of Technology.