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OXYTOCIN - MOTHERING THE WORLD

PROGRAMME 2019

For the Oxytocin's second edition, Procreate Project (PCP) entered into a collaboration with Birth Rites Collection (BRC) located at Guy’s Campus, King’s College, London (KCL), to deliver a performance programme responding to a curatorial theme questioning iconography, cultural connotations and stereotypes associated with the word ‘Mother/Mothering’ and how they affect LGBTQIA families. 

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The event was supported by Arts Council England and the Department of Midwifery, part of the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care at King’s College of London

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PANELS

 

The event sees one-panel discussion on reproduction health curated by artist and midwife Laura Godfrey Isaacs, two lectures by Bracha Ettinger and Del LaGrace Volcano followed by a discussion panel and Q&A. This year's curatorial approach will look to unpick urgent issues that are still hardly discussed and represented in public contexts. These include; gender and rights in reproductive and maternal health and reflections around the use of the word 'Mother' and its historical connotations. This will be initiated through an essential artistic dialogue between artists reclaiming this word and their role as ‘mothers’ in their art practises and public lives and LGBTQIA parents who have refused to be recognised in those terms and pushing for other ways of self-identification, expression and care.

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The panels will host academics, health professionals and artists examining these subjects as well as start a discussion about sensitivity to the LGBTQIA and non-binary parents, research about gay and lesbian parents experiences of maternity services and also surrogacy. In addition, we will look at issues for new mothers in how they find ‘motherhood’ framed as an institution and media narratives. 

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Publications from the LADA Live Art Development Agency study room will be available for consultation on the day. 

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9.30AM - Doors Open 

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10:00 AM - Panel 1:  'What’s in a Name – Gender Inclusion in Maternity and Beyond’

                      

Speakers:

  • Laura Godfrey-Isaacs, Artist and Midwife - Chair

  • Mars Lord, doula and birth activist - WOC and the birth experience

  • Elijah W Harris, Actor and Trans Activist - Trans reproductive health issues 

  • Evelyn Callahan, Trans health researcher at Brunel - Trans health issues 

  • Dr Anna Carlile, Academic in neuro-diversity and LGBTQI parent experience at Goldsmiths College - neurodiversity and language in maternity 

  • Nathan Danny Welch, Trans parent and midwife - Trans experiences of birth and being a midwife

  • Dr Shawn Walker, Midwife and Researcher - Cultivating empathy and awareness in midwifery education

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11.30AM and 11.45 - Two Special Tours of the Birth Rites Collection - Bookings are available on Eventbrite [only 25 places per tour available]

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12.00PM - Lunch Break [please note this is not provided, if you need any information regarding facilities in and near the campus get in touch via email] 

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12.00PM - 3.00PM - The programme of performances will be staged around the historic Guy's campus. A printed programme will be available on the day, with times, durations and a map.

 

Performing Artists 

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  • Leni Dothan - ‘MotherChild Machine 7’

  • Laura Yuile - ‘Once you care, you’re future'

  • Gaia Fugazza - ' Mimosa Pudica' 

  • Katy Howe - 'Becoming BirdGirl'

  • Lynn Lu ‘ - Tent’

  • Natalie Ramus - 'Following IN//Footsteps OF'

  • Himali Singh Soin - ‘Giving Birth to Beauty’

 

3.10 PM - Lecture 1"RESISTANCE IS FERTILE! PARENTING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE” 

Visual Lecture  by Del LaGrace Volcano,  Intersex Activist, Photographic Artist and Performative Para-Academic 

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​3.30 PM Lecture 2 - ''METAFEMINIST NOTES. PSYCHIC BIRTHING and DISBIRTHING - BEING-TOWARD-BIRTHING. A LANGUAGE of HER OWN" by Bracha Ettinger artist-painter, artist-theorist, psychoanalyst and philosopher, pioneer thinker on the matrixial space and the maternal subject.

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3.50 PM – Challenging binary definitions of 'mother', family, gender and sexual orientation [an open conversation followed by a Q&A]

 

Speakers:

  • Bracha Ettinger - artist, psychoanalyst, philosopher, Prof of Art and Psychoanalysis at EGS

  • Del LaGrace Volcano - queer photographer and intersex activist 

  • Lisa Baraitser - Professor of Psychosocial Theory, Birkbeck

  • Sarah Irvin - artist and founder of the Artist Parent Index archive

  • Shira Richter - researcher, activist and writer

  • Metra Saberova - performance artist

  • Diana Georgiou, writer and curator, Arts Feminism Queer Co-Director

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5PM End. *** Please note that changes to the programme might occur. Keep updated by signing to our newsletter and follow us on social media Facebook: @procreateproject Instagram Twitter 

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* Children are welcome at all times and must be supervised by their parents/carers. We are arranging a room with toys and materials for children to use and engage with. We will confirm all the details in due course.
** Lunch is not provided, if you need information about facilities in and around the campus please get in touch. 
*** If you require special assistance on the day email us and we will be happy to help. 
**** If you are experiencing financial hardship and cannot afford the ticket price please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.  
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For any enquiry please contact the production at events@procreateproject.com

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