What to Expect, an exhibition of work by Sarah Stankey, will be on display at Arts + Literature Laboratory from Tuesday, November 15 to Thursday, December 22, as part of the Bridge Work Madison program. The opening reception will be Friday, November 18 at 6:00pm.
Sarah Stankey received an MFA in photography in 2019 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sarah earned a BFA in photography from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in 2013. Her studio practice includes photography, curating and research within zoology, limnology and geology. Her interest in the natural sciences and fine arts includes the history of museums, taxidermy and cabinets of curiosity. In addition to her fine art practice, Sarah enjoys working within museums and has spent time employed at the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, the UW-Zoological Museum and the UW-Geology Museum.
What to Expect
Deciding to become pregnant comes with loads of expectations. I planned, I read the books, I did everything correctly. I pictured what I would look like as an enormously pregnant glowing goddess of fertility, patiently awaiting the arrival of my baby and getting whisked off to the delivery room where I would have an uncomplicated birth, hold my newborn and immediately fall in love as we shared those first intimate, transcendental moments together. At twenty seven weeks gestation, only six months pregnant, that fantasy ended abruptly. I first saw my baby through multiple layers of plastic while I was still sliced open, lying motionless on a steel operating table, trying not to throw up. I was right about one thing, the moment I became a mother was transformative. The memory of our ninety days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is like a whiplash. It was not one traumatic day or event, but rather months. This exhibition is a culmination of me piecing my memories back together and attempting to live alongside the trauma.
