In the Dark:Birth follows on to depict Wingrove’s friend Annie’s traumatic experience of birth, through photographic images that present green, abstract, bodily forms that encompass the emotional strain of birth and the (in)visible transition into motherhood. 

Wingrove created an intimate set up in her bedroom, and used the therapeutic conversations between her and Annie to direct the movement of Annie’s body, allowing her to connect with her story. Annie described feeling that the doctors were blasé and felt like they were keeping information from her, leaving her to feel in the dark. Wingrove encourages viewers to reflect on their own health experiences and / or the ones of their friends and family using the words and images of Annie’s to explore their own.

Annie gave birth to her daughter in 2019, but this wasn’t the experience she was expecting to have. Due to being past her expected birthing date, Annie was given a vaginal sweep to induce the labour. Shortly after, she experienced what she described as a ‘green gush’ and was taken to hospital to give birth. Once her daughter had been delivered, Annie heard an alarm going off and assumed it was for someone else, but suddenly doctors and nurses rushed in and Annie started to panic. She told herself to stay calm, you’re not going to die, keep your eyes open, repeating, it’ll be over soon in her head. She said “I could feel the doctor inside me, pressing down.” Annie was experiencing an Atonic Uterus and lost a lot of blood, but before heading into theatre they managed to stop the bleeding. She was stitched up and left feeling helpless, with a lack of awareness and no proper explanation of what had happened to her. She described the experience as intense and scary, her family were crying and petrified. It was only until a few months later where she researched the terms and spoke about it, that she understood the extent of what she’d been through.