The participatory online artwork Each Egg a World online, is an online artwork that aims is to raise societal awareness of stillbirth and pregnancy loss and give people who have experienced a stillbirth a voice with which to talk about it to the outside world. There are between 2 and 3 million stillbirths a year globally (depending on which pregnancy duration is classed as a stillbirth) and in the UK alone about one in 225 births is a stillbirth, yet it remains a difficult subject matter to talk about. This project aims to reach bereaved parents worldwide and reduce some of the social isolation and stigma experienced by those who sadly go through it.
The online artwork is based on the Each Egg a World painting made by Adinda van 't Klooster in 2017. It contains 44,061 dots that together create patterns of human female egg cells inside a larger egg shape. Each dot represents a stillbirth and all that that entails. In the online version of the artwork it is possible to select one of the dots and name it after a stillborn baby; this can be done by either the mother or the father of the baby or by both parents together. The participant(s) can then write a brief (up to 250 word) anonymous description of their experience of stillbirth and related emotions. A named dot will turn red and once the statement has been reviewed it will be readable online when hovering over the named dot. Anybody, including people who have not directly experienced stillbirth, can view the statements and give feedback on the artwork. It is hoped that the artwork will help to break the taboo on stillbirth and make people feel slightly better equipped with understanding when they come across a stillbirth in their own communities. Sofar 300 people have named a dot after their stillborn baby and added a statement on their experience. These statements can be read by visiting https://stillbornproject.org.uk/eacheggaworld/. The online artwork was designed and produced by Adinda van 't Klooster and programmed by Toby Harris.
The video below explains the steps one has to go through to name a dot and add a statement to the online artwork. The video was made at the start of the project when the artwork was only sparsely populated. We now have 245 contributions but there is space for 44,061. Please share this artwork with anyone you think might be interested. The artwork will remain open for submissions until 2025.
Each Egg a World Online was funded by the Arts Council England, the Wellcome Trust and GX projects. This project was developed in partnership with Prof. Alexander Heazell, director of Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre in the St Mary's Hospital in Manchester.