Making Matrice

• Published in: Collaborative anthropologies 2014-10, Vol.7 (1), p.1
• Main Authors: Allison, Juliann Emmons, Ossman, Susan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Artists; Collaboration; Dance; Pregnancy; Womens health
• ISSN: 1943-2550; 2152-4009

Artists and ethnographers work together to probe topics of common concern or to devise projects that bring people together to stage events or develop community artworks.1 Fewer collaborative projects involving the arts focus on more intimate topics and situations; and those that do rarely have the production of art as their primary goal.2 In this article we develop an intersubjective narrative (McCleary and Viotti 2009) about one such project that resulted in the making of Matrice, an installation composed of latex, burlap, and oil paint on canvas panels. While most women approach belly casting as an afternoon diy project to be completed arts-and-crafts fashion as a pregnancy souvenir, belly casting has become a full service "salon" industry; ninety dollars buy the expectant mom a private session, strongly encouraged due to the (partial) nudity involved, with a waxing addon available for an additional charge (Osier 2008; Warner 2006).\n Then, listening to music, I thought of the Belly and dancing, and with the circling motions of my hands I traced the lines in ways that felt like the way I might imagine my full belly jiggling if I were to dance while pregnant.