The next dawn, the next spring is a video made with 12 women singing songs to the sea, composed from our words by choir leader Claire Ingleheart. Filmed at dusk and dawn around the rock pool at Newtrain Bay, Trevone, Cornwall, with a brilliant crew.
The workshops, the film and its future screenings are motivated by my experiences of infertility and childlessness. The next dawn, the next spring came from a desire to make space for women struggling to have children and those who are childless not by choice. The project aims to give a voice to unheard experience and expand the sites that bring meaning to our lives.
‘Situating remembrance and grief as a form of collective labour, Melanie Stidolph’s ‘The next dawn, the next spring’ (2024) is an ode to the healing and transformative power of shared memory. Filmed at dawn and dusk on the Cornish coast, the film gathers twelve women who sing together to their lost children at the water’s edge. The work gives voice to experiences of loss and childlessness that are too often silenced or ignored. With each collective breath, the tide draws in and out in a unifying gesture of support. The work is both film, performance and healing process. One participant described the music as a “keening song”, a traditional Gaelic vocal lament, for absent children and lost ancestral lines. The song is both an act of mourning and a triumphant declaration of presence. The work draws attention to and dismantles the dominant and pervasive framing of women’s value as linked to motherhood. By creating a space of solidarity where grief can be both shared and witnessed, care, memory and survival become collective testimony.’
Romy Brill Allen, Director, Re:Vision, East Wing Biennial, 2025 – 2027
‘Every panel, workshop and keynote at Storyhouse Childless (2025) was incredible, but I want to highlight the Art of Community panel. This panel was led by three incredible artists, who each have awe-inspiring and goosebump-inducing works of art. Collectively, their work evoked all of our senses.
Creatively inspired by her infertility and childlessness, artist and producer Melanie Stidolph’s haunting video titled ‘The next dawn, the next spring’ depicts 12 women gathering on the Cornish coastline and singing of their childless grief out to the wide open sea. The power of song, ceremony and sisterhood is palpable.
Comfortably childfree, but perhaps uncomfortable with our language for people without children, Kristina Borg is the artist behind Wombs on Strike, which is a multi-lingual audio piece of art that takes us on a journey that is familiar to many people opting out of having kids — the prickly journey of defying society’s expectations of procreation. This piece of art guides us through shame, stigma, pressure, and then empowerment, exploration of meanings of ‘mother’, and on to freedom. The multi-lingual element showcases how universal the experiences are of women who choose not to have children.
Multi-disciplinary artist Victoria Robinson is an expert in touch and movement, as well as how something feels in the body. During her darkest moments of childlessness grief, she learned to “hold her own hand”, and in this video — which undid me, as it invoked my anticipatory grief of sitting by a loved one in their final days — the impact of self-love, self-trust and self-care is profound.
As a trio, these three talented ladies created a harmonious fusion of their individual works of art.’ Ali Hall @life.without.children
The project was developed through workshops held at Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange as part of the exhibition We Are Floating in Space, 11 February – 3 June 2023. To see more about the shape of the project please follow the link here – newlynartgallery.co.uk/stidolph/
The original call out video is at the bottom of this web page.
A deep thank you to the wonderful women and supportive crew who made this, beautifully. The women: Laura, Katie, Haydn, Hannah, Yvonne, Jo, Karen, Victoria, Jane, Kate, Melanie and Pip.
Artist & Producer: Melanie Stidolph / Camera and editor: Rachael Jones / Aerial camera: Alban Roinard / Sound Designer: Neil Rose / Lighting: Neal Megaw / Musical Director: Claire Ingleheart / Costume Design & Production: Pam Robinson & Victoria Robinson / Production Assistant: Rachel Clear Burton / Production Support: Jess Voke / Camera assistant: Jamie Coupland / Lighting Assistant: Jasper Hignett
This production is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and with the support of Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange.
Support – Gateway Women Lighthouse Women and World Childless Week are support and network organisations for women who are childless not by choice. I have been a member of Gateway women for years and benefited from joining a network to feel part of a community and having your experience validated.
