Sculpture Information

This sculpture is named after a campaign which highlights that in 2019/2020 black (or mixed race) women were five times more likely to die in childbirth and pregnancy than white women in the UK. It now stands at 3.6 times more which is still unacceptable. The MBRRACE UK, 2020 Report investigates the statistics and why this is the case. The Fivexmore campaign seeks to empower Black women and birthing people to make informed choices and advocate for themselves throughout their pregnancies and after childbirth.

I carved this piece as a friend (Keziah Burt) told me that in the UK no black baby had yet been carved in the UK in stone only white babies and that there was an important campaign called FiveXMore. When I looked at the dimensions of the stone, a baby fitted nicely into the Kilkenny Limestone block.

It is significant that this sculpture is made from Irish Kilkenny Limestone as the Irish as well as the Windrush generation suffered racism on entry to the UK in postwar Britain.

This piece of stone was extremely dense and broke 5 of my chisels. It had to be worked with tools intended for granite and it took three months to carve.

This piece is in the foyer of the maternity ward of Gloucester Royal Hospital to help promote the Trusts wellbeing program for women and children.