Rosalux Member Since 2005
Amelia Biewald creates large provocative installation worlds combining playfulness with seduction while maintaining an incredible level of craft. Extensive research into both historical narratives and physical materials provide a unique new look into multi-layered environments that provoke a sense of wonder and desire, but also a potential for menace. She recreates intrigues,
telling stories about the confluence of myth, history, science and scandal. She is currently working to recreate a bizarre true story from eighteenth century
England where rumor and superstition clash with medical prowess fueling media frenzy and political disruption. This is the curious case of Mary Toft, or The Rabbit Breeder. She began giving birth to rabbits, and didn’t stop for months. She was thought to be a medical marvel, and had England fascinated in 1726. The king sent experts, and the case was widely publicized though text, print and stage. Medical science was in its infancy, and a mix of superstition, fable, and sexism prevailed. Women’s anatomy was a mystery, and male doctors had countless imaginative theories. One of these theories was that of “maternal impression”, or that when a child is born he or she takes on characteristics of the
mother’s surroundings, dreams, and desires. Prenatal influences could shape a fetus. This put considerable fault on women and also had connotations of the
preternatural and even witchcraft.
