Becoming

Helena Hamilton brings Becoming to QUB MediaLab from 22 to 25 October, a multi-sensory installation that looks at matrescence — the profound transformation of becoming a mother. It's built from Hamilton's own lived experience and qualitative research with mothers across generations, and it doesn't shy away from the contradictions of early motherhood: the isolation and loneliness sitting right alongside resilience, joy, frustration and love.

The centrepiece is a steel bath turned into a resonant speaker. Sound moves through the steel, making it vibrate audibly and physically, while toys placed in and around it tip, fall and rattle against the surface. You encounter the work through a shared sonic environment, large-scale moving image and open-back headphones, which carry spoken experiences of motherhood. It's an immersive piece that pulls together spatial sound, moving image, haptic sculpture and those spoken accounts.

Hamilton is a Belfast-based artist, researcher and producer. She initiated the piece, which she developed in partnership with NI Science Festival, Digital Catapult and the Sonic Arts Research Centre. It's being expanded with £50,000 of Immersive Arts UK Expand Fund support.

Becoming runs from 22 to 25 October at QUB MediaLab, CaptureLab, 15 University Square Mews, with viewings at 11am, 3pm and 7pm. Tickets are £10.