damien hirst unveils fourteen towering fetus sculptures in qatar

damien hirst unveils fourteen towering fetus sculptures in qatar
image courtesy and © penny yi wang

damien hirst has unveiled fourteen, massive bronze sculptures, which chart human gestation from conception to birth, situated outside the sidra medical and research centre in doha. commissioned by the qatar museums authority to coincide with their exhibition ‘relics’ — hirst’s first solo show in the middle east — ‘the miraculous journey‘ features the huge figures arranged in chronological order, cataloging the metamorphosis of their early development. the series begins with the fertilization of the egg in the womb, followed by twelve realizations of its evolution, and finally ends with a towering, fully-formed baby. ranging in height between 5 and 11 meters, the total sum of the colossal anatomical forms equates to 216 metric tonnes. the reveal of the permanent installation on october 7th is followed by a nearly month long mystery, as the sculptures were each hidden under a giant white balloonsuntil the official unveiling.

appropriately fixed a front the new academic medical facility — which specializes in world class patient care for women and children in qatar — the installation is intended as a celebration of life and visual informative source. hirst explains of his creative influence and application of the artwork: ‘ultimately, the journey a baby goes through before birth is bigger than anything it will experience in its human life. I hope the sculpture will instill in the viewer a sense of awe and wonder at this extraordinary human process, which will soon be occurring in the sidra medical center, as well as every second all across the globe.’ 

image courtesy / © penny yi wang

image courtesy and © penny yi wang

image courtesy / © penny yi wang

image courtesy / © penny yi wang

image courtesy / © penny yi wang

image courtesy / © penny yi wang

image courtesy / © penny yi wang

image courtesy / © penny yi wang