SLQS
Home Birth After Cesarean
Performance
2018
HBAC Performance Manifesto by SLQS
Publication and Durational Performance – London – Autumn 2018
The home environment is a safe and calm place to give birth. A home birth can be an empowering and positive experience. However, this birth choice is taken away from women due to current or previous medical conditions. They have to give birth in very restricted and monitored conditions in hospitals, sometimes leading to traumatic birth experiences.
The HBAC Performance Manifesto was written from SLQS’s personal experience of being pregnant and not given access to a home birth, having previously had a cesarean. SLQS navigated a healthcare system where she was not being heard and her birthing rights were being denied.
On 4th & 5th November 2018, over 25 hours, SLQS performed the act of giving birth at home with the support of two independent midwives. The birth was documented as an act of everyday life in the domestic space.
The Manifesto declares her views on birth as an every day performance and Home Birth After Cesarean (HBAC) as being a safe birth option. It was published by the Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services in 2020 and M.A.M.A Publication in 2022.
Independent midwifery supports choices for women by providing evidence based information and continuity of care to women. Unfortunately, since 2020, due to their insurance product being annulled, their practice is now heavily restricted.
A group of independent midwives are taking action and fundraising to set up their own social insurance product owned by women through a their campaign Childbirth Choices Matters.
SLQS is a Franco-Vietnamese artist living in East London. Her work questions the politics of space and who is excluded from it.SLQS makes and holds space as a woman, a person of mixed heritage, a foreigner, a mother, an artist and an equestrian. She invites her audience to decolonise spatial orders from imperialist, sexist and racist structures.
