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  Tara Carpenter

Chia to Watermelon

The sizes of growing embryos and fetuses are often represented by fruits and vegetables  (as in “your baby is now as long as an asparagus”). This work is a half-size scale model of the average size of a growing embryo/fetus each week of pregnancy, visualized as embroidered produce.  The size of the work is about 4x5'

Pregnancy is fraught with uncertainty.  It is estimated that 20% of all known pregnancies end in miscarriage and that 80% of miscarriages happen before week 12. The apple seed (week 5) may become a watermelon (week 40), or it might not.  Regardless of the outcome, women still experience the emotional and physical effects of the process.

Like pregnancy, embroidery is time consuming and demanding.  A line that would take 5 seconds in paint takes 5 minutes in thread.  Embroidery also shares a long connection to women and women's work. In part because of this connection, embroidery has been historically denigrated as craft rather than art.  

Below is the list of weeks with their associated produce:

Week 1-2 Pregnancy is calculated from the first day of the last period, so in weeks one and two, women aren’t actually pregnant yet
Week 3 Chia seed
Week 4 Poppy seed 
Week 5 Apple seed 
Week 6 Lentil 
Week 7 Chickpea
Week 8 Raspberry 
Week 9 Olive 
Week 10 Prune 
Week 11 Fig 
Week 12 Plum 
Week 13 Lemon 
Week 14 Peach 
Week 15 Apple 
Week 16 Avocado
Week 17 Pear 
Week 18 Artichoke 
Week 19  Mango 
Week 20 Banana
Week 21 Endive 
Week 22  Coconut 
Week 23 Eggplant 
Week 24 Corn
Week 25 Acorn Squash
Week 26 Zucchini 
Week 27 Cauliflower 
Week 28 Kabocha Squash 
Week 29 Butternut Squash
Week 30 Red Cabbage  
Week 31 Asparagus 
Week 32 Napa Cabbage 
Week 33  Celery 
Week 34  Cantaloupe 
Week 35 Pineapple 
Week 36 Romaine Lettuce 
Week 37 Swiss Chard 
Week 38 Rhubarb 
Week 39 Small Pumpkin
Week 40 Watermelon



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