Amber Hearn’s latest body of work is a series of self-portraits woven into landscapes that capture the anticipation of the arrival of her daughter, speaking to both the emotional and physical shifts within the body. The works highlight the complexities of labour and childbirth, whilst encapsulating the symbiotic relationship between the pain and beauty of that experience.

Mother’s Gateway is a deeply personal self-portrait that explores the interconnected pathways of the feminine, honouring the cyclical nature of life, birth, and inheritance. The work reflects on the profound biological and emotional continuities passed from mother to daughter, examining both the physical and energetic connections between them.

Says Amber, “This piece is a visual representation of the threshold between generations. It embodies the idea of a gateway, where the transition between the past and the future takes place. I wanted to capture the deep cellular ties that bind us as women, and how, in birthing my daughter, I was both connected to my own mother and becoming a mother of a daughter myself. The form of the mountainous gateway symbolises that passage, not just between life stages, but between the generations.”

The piece is enveloped in soft light, with subtle forms layered into the composition, representing the unseen but ever-present connections that link one body to another. A delicate pink veil appears to both veil and unveil, symbolising a space of emergence, where new life flows through and connects to ancestral lineage. Mother’s Gateway honours the complex, intertwined forces of motherhood, creating a space where generational continuity and transformation meet, as one life gives way to the next.