time/dilation: creating a supportive early labor environment

In time/dilation, plush, organic knit forms transform a maternity triage room. The installation provides an abstracted alternative to the paradigm of impersonal, efficiency-based spatial management of early labor. Most hospitals do not admit women in early labor. Instead the maternity staff assesses women in a small triage room in order to determine their readiness for admission. This process and setting contrast with women's demonstrated needs during early labor, interfering with labor's delicate hormonal orchestration. The installation, which took place in a maternity triage room at Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital, drew upon the act of yarn bombing in order to transform the room into a space of comfort, support and relaxation.