Birth of an image: a post-secular glimpse of fetal representations in visual arts

Abstract

This work examines how the religious discourses of the fetus translate into the visual platform to characterize the fetus. Drawing on critical discourse analysis from Habermasian post-secular interpretation, this work critically unpacks fetal representations through examining visual arts (e.g. paintings, sculptures and digital arts). This work analyzes the images in their sacred and pragmatic dimensions. Analyses how that fetal images treatise the sacred and the pragmatic aspects at the same time, situating them in a complex dialogue with each other as they mutually shape the public sphere. The discourses behind the images and their epistemological boundaries categorize the fetus as “living” in various depictions, both in sacred and non-sacred ways. These observations imply that the fetal images reflect the contested rationalities underpinning the dynamics between sacredness, life and conception. It also shows that those considered as sacred and pragmatic depictions are not just benign and independent activities, but both are rather political and intertwined. The images convey a relational, not unidirectional connection with both religion and the secular world.