Last November, I was asked to partner with the Being Human Festival curated by Queen Mary, University of London. The event was part of a series called ‘Navigating New Worlds’. This event is funded by the Wellcome Trust.
The webinar they were hosting was looking at the many ways the interior body has been revealed by a variety of visualizing techniques. This includes ultrasound scans and images of embryos that have long left the lab and are increasingly appearing in the news, in commercial advertising, in classrooms, in family photo albums, and on social media.
I hosted a panel discussion with historians, artists, and sociologists to explore the meaning, making, and circulation of biomedical and artistic representations of reproduction and discuss how images emerge from particular social, cultural, and historical contexts.
The panel included:
Dr. Isabel Davies (Birkbeck University)
Liv Pennington (artist) Artist and, a Ph.D. student at UCA
Professor Nick Hopwood (Cambridge University)
Dr. Josie Hamper – Post Doctoral Researcher
During this discussion, you will hear me introduce the speakers as well as talk about questions that the audience was asked to interact with.
First up is Dr. Josie Hamper who talked through the main research findings, from how the conversations were carried out with the sample audience of 100 people discussing options on images such as an embryo on day three and time-lapse technology. The interviews aimed to gather the perspectives or uses of this technology in both professionals and patients.
Tabitha Moses discussed ‘Visualisation of pregnancy’ and a very personal account of her experience of pregnancy and loss as she talked through her artwork which she created after her experience of IVF. Tabitha talked about how each image brings you one step closer to the baby. She created a series of images using light boxes representing her embryos along with embroidered gowns.
Isabell Davies discussed the issue of imagining a pregnancy and the impact of feeling like you are pregnant when you are not. She also discussed the two-week wait and the pressures during that time also being between ovulation and finding out if you are pregnant naturally as well as after embryo transfer and doing a pregnancy test.
I have spoken with Isabella before on her work around people’s past experience, before pregnancy testing which you can have a listen to here
Artist Liv Pennington discussed her work a ‘Private View’ explaining the two parts of her show which are all focused around pregnancy tests and Liv talks through the amazing insights she gained from creating her work in different settings, at different points in time. She also discussed her own realizations of the impacts of these tests.
Professor. Nick Hopwood from the University of Cambridge is going to be outlining how since the 18th Century, the images we see, that are associated with pregnancy have progressed.
Do let us know what you think of this conversation and whether you would like us to share more of the webinars we are involved in hosting. Email info@thefertilitypodcast.com
Also if you want to continue the conversation about fertility issues and are looking for a safe community to gain further support from, visit our closed Facebook group
