PROJECT: WHEN YOU SEE
ARTIST STATEMENT
I believe one of the greatest powers of art is its ability to connect people, overcome difference and build communities. What used to be a private pursuit has become increasingly about visibility and taking up space by illuminating hidden discussions and underrepresented groups. I want to use art to guide the viewer in self-reflection and consider other perspectives. Through self-exploration we’re able to contextualise our own experiences and appreciate the experiences of others.
CONTEXTUAL STATEMENT
Can art be used to explore childfree and childless (CF/CL) identities and breakdown harmful myths and stereotypes, whilst empowering women through a stronger sense of self?
When You See is a responsive research project, borne out of my own experiences of straddling the childfree (CF) and childless (CL) divide. The project became as much about connection as it was about dissemination of experience. That connective element grew as the project developed, and it’s this connection that provides the bedrock for the project’s legacy.
Although there were three outcomes that followed each other chronologically, none feels hierarchically more important than another so, where used, the labels ‘outcome 1, 2 and 3’ refer to their chronology rather than their significance.
Firstly there were some one-to-one conversations followed by a discussion group of CF/CL women who were invited to share their experiences. Making the process anonymous gave them confidence that those stories would be held with care. This initial group of women will link back into the project for its legacy phase.
This first discursive output prompted a frosted mirror containing a haiku-inspired verse, representing a single CF/CL woman in its physical form but equally the collective experience. It was placed around County Durham and was ignored and interacted with to varying degrees, reflecting the lived experiences of many in the CF/CL community, being invisible and at the same time painfully conspicuous. Finally, the website holds the project as a whole, incorporating a video and responsive poem inspired by our varied experiences.
The last few years have seen broad literary exploration of the subject (Brown 2024; Day 2020; Warrington 2023) which has had a positive discursive impact (Women’s Hour 2024) but there is still a shroud of secrecy around CF/CL experiences (Archetti 2020). Moreover CF/CL communities don’t always meet expectations. Ashley (2024) describes negative embittered attitudes on childfree forums towards mothers, whilst the biggest online space for those childless not by choice declares itself unsuitable for those who remain open to alternative ways of parenting (Childless Collective ca. 2024). The proscriptions, atmosphere and cost of communities mean many continue to feel silenced in their experiences, maintaining the taboo status of CF/CL experiences whilst allowing myths and stereotypes to persist (Letherby 2002).
The issues that were foregrounded through the anonymous survey responses were perceived negative external stereotypes, unfair or untrue assumptions and intrusive questioning of CF/CL women. Forging a strong sense of self-identity, of womanhood outside of motherhood, can help combat the effects of objectively evidenced and perceived external negative stereotypes (Facchin et al. 2021). Through projection of self-identity, When You See allows CF/CL women themselves to write their own narrative around their experiences.
Building a collaborative methodology upon Checchia’s (2002) circulatory framework enabled a natural progression from one-to-one conversations, to anonymised group input, to public discourse and back again to one-to-one conversations. An event planned next year will revisit and build upon the group and public elements.
The formats used in each outcome guided the discussion in unanticipated ways – the website had a much greater impact in terms of understanding and led to many people reaching out individually. People who had previously lived their experience in isolation felt heard and seen for the first time. The individual one-to-one encounters demonstrated clear emotion, genuine connection and a desire to see greater conversation around CF/CL experiences.
REFERENCES
ARCHETTI, Christina. 2020. Childlessness In The Age Of Communication: Deconstructing silence. London: Routledge.
ASHLEY, Beth. 2024. “I joined the childfree movement and discovered its dark side”. iNews 9 May [online]. Available at: https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/i-joined-childfree-movement-dark-side-3046375?srsltid=AfmBOooLplGKWIEhXF3LzaaW5Ds-QqDtHpSc2gFMB6fEIBKWcVQZgrTB [accessed 26 October 2024].
BROWN, Kat. (ed.) 2024. No One Talks About This Stuff: Twenty-two stories of almost parenthood. London: Unbound.
CHECCHIA, Viviana. 2002. ‘Circling the circulatory’. Peripeti, 19(35), 109-124. DOI: 10.7146/peri.v19i35.130636
CHILDLESS COLLECTIVE. ca. 2024. ‘Who is the childless online community for?’. Childless Collective. Available at: https://childlesscollective.com/?affiliate=jodyday [accessed 26 October 2024].
DAY, Jody. 2020. Living The Life Unexpected. London: Bluebird.
FACCHIN, Federica, BUGGIO, Laura, DRIDI, Dhouha and Paolo VERCELLINI. 2021. ‘A woman’s worth: the psychological impact of beliefs about motherhood, female identity, and infertility on childless women with endometriosis’. The Journal of Health Psychology, 26(7), 1026-1034. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1359105319863093?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed [accessed 26 October 2024].
LETHERBY, Gayle. 2002. ‘Childless and bereft? Stereotypes and realities in relation to ‘voluntary’ and ‘involuntary’ childlessness and womanhood’. Sociological Inquiry, 72(1), Winter 2002, 7-20. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111%2F1475-682X.00003 [accessed 26 October 2024].
WARRINGTON, Ruby. 2023. Women Without Kids. London: Orion Spring.
WOMEN’S HOUR. 2024. [radio broadcast]. London: BBC, 10 April 2024.