Maternity Nurse.

Susan O’Doherty, Maternity Nurse, 2021

mixed media - pram, wood, castor oil and glass milk bottles, fabric

100 x 50 x 25 cm

Artist Susan O’Doherty is creating a series of soft sculptures representing the various occupations available to women at The Maitland Hospital over time. The full set will be in the exhibition at the Maitland Regional Art Gallery later in 2021.

 Here, as a fitting acknowledgement of Mother’s Day, she introduces her Maternity Nurse. As with all her sculptures, she has collected and recycled diverse materials. Susan explains:  

 Raised on a textile mount, a white cane pram represents the maternity nurses and the women who have given birth at The Maitland Hospital from its very beginning.  Linking the decades, the late nineteenth century castor oil bottles and mid-twentieth century half pint milk bottles symbolise both motherhood and the care and support given by nurses and midwives at the hospital in the journey from pregnancy to birth and postnatal care.        

Susan O’Doherty, Maternity Nurse (details), 2021