Transformation, oil on canvas 55×65 cm
Copyright 2018-2019, Çiğdem Menteşoğlu

Çiğdem Menteşoğlu’s art about childbirth is dreamlike and surreal, bringing the viewer into liminal spaces of birth, death and rebirth through the artist’s canvases. In Transformation, which Menteşoğlu created between 2018-2019, a fleshly female form stands out as the main subject on the canvas. Squeezing a large, ripe fruit between her lifted legs, the form lies next to a tranquil pool of water, behind which stands a dusky landscape and nighttime sky. In the pool of water, we make out a face, which appears both as a reflection of the moon and a head peeking out from the blue ripples.

In our correspondences, Menteşoğlu has described the meaning of her representations in Transformation as related to rebirth of the mother-self during childbirth:

This is a scene of birth. imagination or interpretation of the childbirth. It’s said that when a child is born, a mother is also born. The woman dies, the mother-woman is born. From a feminist perspective, you take on a new personality, that is, you reconstruct yourself. The “you-other” theme is emerging here. A balloon-like image is seen between the woman’s legs. I created a story where this balloon bursts, the baby’s hand rises during the burst, and simultaneously the woman’s face blurs, drowning in the water peacefully. Focusing on the orange balloon-like image indicating the belly and the dark landscape with cypress trees in the background symbolizing death and the afterlife, I tried to layer three events/happenings on the same canvas surface.

For those who are pregnant, the forms and colors of Menteşoğlu’s artwork are calming to look at. Furthermore, the ripeness of the birthing mother figure–a ripeness bursting in the form of the fruit or balloon-like structure held between the figure’s legs–brings to mind the moment of birth during which time the infant crowns and is released into the world. 

Giving birth is an otherworldly experience, tinged with the sublime and the surreal, a magical moment captured in Meneteşoğlu’s paintings and artwork.

Çiğdem Menteşoğlu is an artist and professor based in Turkey. To view more of her artwork, check out her Instagram page here.