Ceremonies: Pregnancy, Birthworkers and Life Opening Reception

Ceremony according to the dictionary is defined as: a formal act or series of acts prescribed by ritual, protocol, or convention.

This exhibit captures the ways that pregnancy, birthwork, and life: including the acts of parenting, activism, spiritual practices, and existing in our bodies are ceremonies in themselves.

This community exhibit is a collaboration with Birthworkers of Color Collective & Sovern LA to intentionally highlight the work and sacredness of healers, birthworkers, birthing people, and artists. Bringing together various visual and performative mediums, we feature work from 10 local artists: Fei Hernandez, Ever Velasquez, Cindy Bonaparte, Raina Beigler, Jasmine Godinez-Gomez, ThaooAishat Hasati, Udita Upadhyaya, Carneice Colvin, Gabrielle Chen, and Tricia Taper.



Curated by Stevie Merino, a cultural practitioner, birthworker, parent, and currently in a year of her own spiritual ceremony. Reflecting on two tensions in the United states: 1) how birthwork is often seen as a luxury and accessible only for certain people rather than a traditional practice and 2) how birth is approached as a medical emergency rather than a natural process. She envisioned an offering that would continue the work of dismantling the harmful approaches and offering counter-perspectives through art and community. In the Ceremonies: Pregnancy, Birthwork, and Life show, we present alternatives, the traditions, the advocacy, and the ceremonies that these things are and can truly be.



Suggested donation - all proceeds benefit nonprofits serving the community.
* Community rate: $10-20
* Abundance rate: $30-$40



Show Schedule

12 PM - 1:30 PM

Show opening ceremony, non-profit and artist introductions
Dance and performative piece: Audrey Edwards
Video and Poetry: féi hernandez

1:30 - 3:00

Community celebration
Appetizers, Pupusas, & music



About the organizations:


Birthworkers of Color Collective began as a doula of Color training in Long Beach in June of 2017 and has since grown as a collective of birthworkers from across the country and beyond human made borders. We are rooted in community, activism, and center BIPOC in all that we do. We offer culturally relevant and inclusive support and resources through all pregnancy and postpartum outcomes to individuals, families, and their communities. We conduct workshops and trainings to share knowledge, promote advocacy, build resources & expand the number of trained/competent/& culturally relevant doulas.




Sovern LA is an intersectional community center and 501c3 non-profit founded in 2020 to address inequity and exclusion in wellness and art, to address the colonization of spirituality and white spiritual bypassing in wellness. In 2021 Sovern opened a multi-pronged center in the heart of LA’s West Adams district to create a majority POC space that centers the healing and upliftment of Black and Indigenous women+ and gender non-binary people. Sovern offers year round, fully donation based art and wellness programming designed to improve our community’s mental health and well-being. We champion up-and-coming artists, healers, and activists of color through our classes, workshops, markets, art shows, artist in residence space, and affordable office space rental.