Tokophobia

This series of three ceramic vases explores tokophobia, the fear of pregnancy. AI-generated and fired distortions evoke horror, paired with Reddit posts. The vessels reflect societal expectations of women, revealing a darker view of pregnancy.

From my own fear of pregnancy, I started researching online and came across many reddit posts from women describing their fear and phobia of pregnancy. I discovered that it’s called tokophobia.

The vessel that serves as a container and holds and nurtures life represents the expectations onto women in relationships, family and society, and the role they often play.

The applied images are created by AI, creating a sense of horror through a distortion of the images that is also created by firing the ceramic pieces. On the other side are the posts from reddit.

Usually when we talk about pregnancy and bringing life it holds a very romantic angle to it. I am showing the flip side that can come to mind about pregnancy from a female perspective.

This is a series of three handmade ceramic vases.