Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Surrogacy Tourism :: Mother Jones Magazine

T :: Gestational dormitories. Routine C-sections. Quintuple embryo implants. Brave New World? Nope, surrogacy tourism. This balanced article touches on the positive (lifting Indian women out of poverty, giving the gift of motherhood to women who can't have kids) and the negatives (industrializing birth, Indian mothers are treatment is somewhat shady). more here.
The concept was growing a flower out of the surrogate's Sari pattern, and have the flower crown a baby (white baby, dark surrogate). Trying to evoke the idea of 'farming' or 'harvesting' therefor the use of a flower, a plant growing upwards to be picked when ready. The baby and surrogate are connected by the flower's stem, obviously a reference to the umbilical cord. Cutting it off wouldn't be painless. Lastly, a flower is a universal form of giving good will, giving a present, which expresses the positive aspect of this exchange.




Art directed by Tim Luddy.

15 comments:

  1. Beautiful. Great idea to use darks as skin tone.

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  2. Even the sketch didn't prepare me for the jarring use of black against the pastels in the finished piece. Really striking work as always Tomer.

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  3. Fabulous. I love the contrast, very fitting for the article.

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  4. Wow -- this is incredibly graphically striking! Brilliant.

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  5. The window (and the sheets) are barred, the fan is off. This is uncomfortable - It's great.

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  6. Wonderful piece. Nicely done.

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  7. To be honest, I like the rough better. You're illustration is deft enough to get away with a bare wall. A bare wall might have been a better symbol of poverty.

    Instead of a fancy scene and a pure K human, maybe try to ease up on the "style" and enjoy you're proficiency with likeness. We will do the same ;)

    Your art director should be fired.

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  8. Love the way the bracelets, and the earring simply hint at the form.

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  9. AD should be fired??
    That's a bit harsh... I thought the final really communicated the issue.

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  10. Wonderfully striking, concept and execution.

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  11. As usual, Tomer, your inks just blow me away. You shift from delicate to strong with such whimsy.

    It would of been neat to of seen someone trying to take the child from her, or people shopping for one.

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  12. Beautiful.
    Reminds me of frieda Kahlo's painting The Flying Bed or Henry Ford Hospital
    http://www.fridakahlofans.com/c0090x.htm

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