C-Section, Alexa Mazzarello
A close-up colour photograph shows the lower torso of an adult with a soft, rounded abdomen filling the frame. The skin is warm tan with visible fine lines, creases, and stretch marks running horizontally and diagonally across the surface. A faint, slightly curved surgical scar sits low on the abdomen, just above dark pubic hair at the bottom edge of the image. At the upper right, a hand rests gently across the stomach, fingers extended and relaxed catching the light. Subtle shadows emphasize the curve of the belly and the texture of the skin. The background is neutral and out of focus, keeping attention on the body, scar, and hand.
Title: C-Section
Artist: Alexa Mazzarello
Date: 2023
Medium/Materials: Digital print, embroidery, wood
Dimensions: 81.28 cm x 118.11 cm
Form/Genre: Print
Key Terms/Subject/Tags: Surgery; Stitching/Sutures; Healing
Artist Statement:
Alexa Mazzarelo’s practice is a deeply personal and political exploration of birth, motherhood, and their intersections within broader social and cultural systems of care. Working as a lens-based artist, she uses photography, collage, video, and textile processes to examine the often unseen or misrepresented realities of matrescence—the profound physical, emotional, and psychological transformation of becoming a mother. Her academic background in sociology and public health grounds her practice in questions of gender, power, and health, shaping both her visual language and conceptual approach. Failure to Progress is an intimate investigation of birth and matrescence rooted in lived experience. The title draws from a clinical term describing labour that fails to advance “quickly enough”—language that appeared on my first child’s hospital birth report. That birth, an emergency C-section during the COVID-19 pandemic, was shaped by medical intervention and institutional control. Two years later, a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) marked reclamation, agency, and embodied strength. Through material and lens-based practices, the work seeks to demystify birth while holding space for both trauma and transformation.
Cultural Context / Story Behind the Work:
This self-portrait was captured during Mazzarelo’s first artist-parent residency, four months after an unplanned emergency Cesarean section following the birth of her first child, Henry, in 2021 (during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic). Her hand subtly reveals the stretch marks, a faint surgical scar, and shifts in skin texture that show the physical impact of pregnancy and birth.
Rights for this Image:
This digital image is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. You are free to share it for non-commercial purposes, as long as you credit the artist.
Learn More:
Instagram: @alexamazzarello