ETHOS OF EIGHT

EIGHT explores pregnancy psychosis, and the black mother mortality rate, through the lens of fantasy and surrealism. Playing on a number of themes, including the concept of preying on an intelligent species (octopus), toxic relationship dynamics, and the horrors of experiencing a mental health condition, this project breathes real life terrors into fiction, both as a mirror - and an escape from - realitv.

Pregnancy horrors have been explored often in screenplavs - but the approach here is different; here, the threat is not the child, the invasion, but the world which cannot be trusted with a vulnerable black mother.

As a writer, I am passionate about mental health, socially conscious storytelling, and ultimately, emotive, memorable stories. I seek to explore powerful issues through fantasy, horror and unreality.

I developed EIGHT because of my own experiences as a black woman, struggling with mental health conditions. My desire to have children was lost in the fear of the consequences of physically giving birth and the impacts it can have on the mind.

For hundreds of years, there has been an invasive belief that black people feel less pain than other races; this was used to uphold slavery. In a time where women were thought of as weak and fragile, the belief that black women couldn't feel pain like other Women, eased colonial consciences.

The mortality rate for black women during pregnancy/labour is awful in Britain. Pair this with the wave of viral content about healthcare discrimination - and women consistently being misdiagnosed by misogynistic doctors. With everything from MS symptoms to cancer symptoms being blamed on periods and weight.

The mortality rate amongst diasporic black women during pregnancy (in the West, especially) is not mimiced across Africa.

So why are we dying?

In response to the revelations that are making their way onto the news and social media, now is the right time to bring this narrative into the zeitgeist.