Kuwantu Cammon, Under His Eye: The Doula & Ubume, Ceramic Mixed Media, $1,500

Inspired by the Haniwa—ancient Japanese burial figures—The Doula and Ubume are twin sentinels, silent witnesses to the resilience of choice and the oppression of control. These figures embody the stark duality of birth and loss, autonomy and subjugation, nurture and neglect.
The Doula is the sacred nurturer, a handmaiden to life, duty-bound to bring birth. Babies hover around her, tethered to her presence, symbolizing her assigned role. A feathered headpiece obscures her vision, blinding her to choice and reducing her to function over agency. In her grasp, she holds a birth scepter, the emblem of life, yet also a mark of forced servitude. Marked by the symbol of birth, she exists only as a vessel, stripped of personal will.
In contrast, Ubume is the forgotten—the disregarded birth, the loss without recognition, the absence dictated by power. Encased in black leather armor, her form is bound and restricted. A blinding visor shields her eyes, severing her from autonomy. Atop her head, a twisted spiral crown holds a deformed baby, a manifestation of suffering erased from history. On one hand, she grips the tools of disregard, instruments of removal and negation. In the other, she cradles a hovering incubator sidecar, a chilling reminder of the unseen, the unwanted, the lost. Hooks and gears pierce her back, shackling her to her platform—she has no control.
Set against a world where bodily autonomy is stripped away, The Doula & Ubume reflect the consequences of forced roles and denied choice. They stand as testaments to subjugation and defiance, whispering through the cracks of control and pressing against silence.
Under His Eye, but never genuinely unseen.