Le Collier et la Perle

As filmed by Mamadou Sellou Diallo, birth is a continuum of what comes before and after the actual event (which, as a result, is not in fact filmed), where death mingles with life. Not only because of the real danger to both newborn and mother, but also because of the bodily transformations experienced by both mother and child. By giving life to another body, the woman loses her own body and the new one she receives bears the mark of the former’s death. The massages and care she is given shape her new body according to a symbolic order that matches the massages and care received by the baby girl in order to give her infant form the shape of her future adult body in line with the norms of beauty and health. (Yann Lardeau)