Christine Arida is an engineer at the National Telecom Regulatory Authority in Egypt. She is also a photographer and visual artist who began exhibiting her artworks in 2021
“Emphasizes the process of transformation from life in a busy world full of duties, responsibilities and worries, to a place of intimate personal relations of support, relief and love”
Silent Talk, 2021, is a series of paintings that show the love and support of a partner or friend during turbulent times. This support does not need to be loud. It can also be given silently. The Covid-19 pandemic took a toll on the psychological well-being, health, finances, and interpersonal communication within relationships. According to Christine, Silent Talk “emphasizes the process of transformation from life in a busy world full of duties, responsibilities and worries, to a place of intimate personal relations of support, relief and love”. Despite the disruptive feelings and fears of an unknown future, Christine encourages us to think differently, to value a hidden joy, a moment of reflection. She wants her art to induce hope for a brighter future.
Women of science have often used crocheting and clothes stitching to help understand complex scientific processes and facts. This was the case of pioneering French midwife Angélique du Coudray (1712-1794) who created a mannequin of textiles to teach trainee midwives on all steps of properly attending childbirth. At that time, female midwives were barred from medical studies. In 1759, du Coudray published a midwifery manual “Abrégé de l’art des accouchements” illustrating important manoeuvres to preserve the safety of women and their new-borns at the moment of birth.
Her trainees practiced various manipulations in mock births on the life-size obstetrical mannequin and were well prepared to handle dangerous situations, such as with twins and breech presentation. Du Coudray succeeded against the opposition of male surgeons when Louis XV recognized that she was instrumental to reducing chid mortality and commissioned her to travel across France to teach the art of midwifery. She taught thousands of students and even male medical doctors and became a symbol of French medical progress.
