3,350 gr. Photographs and Letters on Obstetric Violence
Photographs and letters by Valeria Cherchi
Edited by Valeria Cherchi and Elisabetta Masala
Texts by Anna Balogi, Elisabetta Masala, Patrizia Quattrocchi
English / Italian
Softcover, 11.5 x 16 cm
206 pages
ISBN 978-88-6749-740-9
€ 27 / $ 32
19-10-1980 / 17-4-1981. A date of birth and a date of death, six months apart. Valeria Cherchi grew up seeing her own name engraved on a tombstone: the namesake was her older sister, who died after being declared healthy at birth. She weighed 3,350 gr.
3,350 gr.Photographs and Letters on Obstetric Violence arises out of this personal story to investigate obstetric violence as a widespread, yet often unacknowledged, form of abuse. Through her research, Cherchi creates non-linear narratives that invite critical reflection on the events she recounts, bringing to light power dynamics tied to systematic forms of negligence and oppression. Her work proposes spaces of resilience, drawing strength from solidarity and peer support, addressing the issue in its individual, social, and political dimensions.
Moving between image, archive material and letters, Cherchi constructs a polyphonic narrative that brings together the myriad voices of the characters involved, opening up a space in which previously silenced experiences can finally be heard.
Among the themes explored are transgenerational trauma and the impact of perinatal loss on fathers, who were interviewed in collaboration with a psychoanalyst. These reactions are represented through underwater visions that evoke the isolation that often accompanies such experiences.
In Aluminium (WATCH THE VIDEO), the artist invites her father to perform inside his workshop, a place where she herself spent her childhood by his side. The work symbolically and viscerally stages the violence of the delivery room.
It transposes this experience into an industrial, raw, everyday environment: the workshop as an emblem of the working class, aiming to highlight the intersectionality of obstetric violence a form of abuse that manifests differently depending on social class, gender, and the body.
In collaboration with the Hungarian organization Emma -a national women’s association advocating for fundamental rights and social equality for women in the realm of sexual and reproductive health and rights- the artist has documented, through photographs and video (WATCH THE INTERVIEWS), the role of doulas within the Roma community of Alsózsolca. These figures not only offer essential support to mothers before, during, and after childbirth but also act as crucial witnesses against violence and racial discrimination within the healthcare system, shedding light on dynamics that are often silenced.
-Supported by Strategia Fotografia 2025, promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture (Italy) In collaboration with the MAN Museum of Art of the Province of Nuoro–