My Wandering Uterus

Touch and intimacy with nature, fecundity of the ‘other than human’ and grief, both personal and climate related, are current themes in my work. My recent hysterectomy has provided a distinct line of connection to extraction and losses to our living world, its’ fertility and continuity. And the pain of bearing witness to our greed as we wring it dry.

I’ve been using foraged inks to explore the shape/form my womb might take as it ‘wanders’ through somatic processes and natural landscapes to seek a landing place whilst also referencing historical notions of the ‘wandering uterus’. Ancient Greek physicians believed that if you were born with a uterus and were presenting with mystery ailments it might simply be in the wrong place, that your womb had ‘wandered’. Smell was administered to attract or repel the womb, bring it up or down to its rightful place, to tame the wild uterine beast.

And whilst my womb was removed over a year ago, it’s not been tamed. I’m haunted by uterine ghosts: they take me to wind battered barrows, a cracked cliff edge, to hawthorn, oak gall and freshly clawed tracks. They pull me deep into the ocean with inky sea creatures, kelp, the smalls, introduce me to their leech kin and the cellular to collect queer kin, incubate. Cos we’re not done birthing.

I continue to follow the trail via photography, video, scent and drawings with inks I made both pre and post-op, foraged from hawthorn, oak, allotment grapes, poppies and rose, mugwort, copper and iron. I’m developing workshops for others around honouring and developing a somatic and creative dialogue with their own errant organs via engagement with land, making and ritual.

You are invited to explore some of these ideas with me at Lewes Priory as I work up content for a participatory event. I will lead a group somatic practice, offer creative prompts and scent to entice your womb to wander. This will be a gathering for all genders and gender expressions. More details on instagram @interpl8 or email me directly clare@clareplumley.co.uk.