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The Stuff of Childbirth

, –
  • Free
  • Discussion
  • British Sign Language interpreted
  • British Sign Language interpreted (online)
  • Hearing loop
  • Speech-to-text
  • Speech-to-text (online)
A discussion event in the Forum at Wellcome Collection. A panel of four speakers are sitting in front of an audience.
Event in the Forum, Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

What you’ll do

Join us for a panel discussion exploring how people use objects to help them through childbirth.

From medical equipment and hospital bags to lucky charms and religious items, people have long relied on things to manage fear and pain, and to foster hope and resilience during childbirth.

You'll hear more about objects such as the medieval birth scroll featured in our display, ‘Expecting: Birth, Belief and Protection’, and the protective practices associated with them.

The panel will discuss their research and experiences on a range of topics such as the details of childbirth, racism, women’s bodies, birth trauma and loss. You'll then be invited to join the conversation, ask questions or share your own experiences if you wish.

You're welcome to bring babies and young children to the in-venue event. An additional comfortable room will be available where children can move around, make noise and play, while you watch the discussion on a screen.

This event will take place in person and online. It will be livestreamed on Wellcome Collection’s YouTube channel. You can book a ticket below for either the in-venue event or the online livestream.

The event will be recorded and available to view on our website at a later date.

Dates

, –

The Forum

In-venue tickets

Livestream event

Online tickets

Tickets via Eventbrite

Need to know

Location

We’ll be in the Forum. To get there, take the lift or stairs up to level 1 and then follow the signs through the ‘Being Human’ gallery.

Place not guaranteed

Booking a ticket for a free, in-person event does not guarantee you a place. You should aim to arrive 15 minutes before the event is scheduled to start to claim your place. If you do not arrive on time, your place may be given to someone on the waiting list.

Waiting list

If this event is fully booked, you may still be able to attend. We will operate a waiting list, which opens 30 minutes before this event starts. Arrive early, and we’ll give you a numbered ticket. If there are any unfilled places just before the start time, we will invite you to enter in order of ticket number.

British Sign Language interpreted

This event will have British Sign Language interpretation.

British Sign Language interpreted (online)

This event is British Sign Language interpreted. An interpreter will be embedded in the event livestream or visible on screen for online viewers.

Hearing loop

There will be a hearing loop at this event.

Speech-to-text

This event will be live-transcribed. The captions will be displayed on a screen in-venue.

Speech-to-text (online)

This event will be live-transcribed for online viewers. Online ticketholders will receive a link to view the captions in a separate window.

For more information, please visit our Accessibility page. If you have any queries about accessibility, please email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call

Our event terms and conditions

About your contributors

Elsa Richardson

Facilitator

Elsa Richardson is an academic at the University of Strathclyde. She holds a Chancellor’s Fellowship in the History of Health and Wellbeing at the Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare. In addition to lecturing in the history of medicine and her own research, she also curates arts and science events for public institutions, including Wellcome Collection. In 2018 she was named one of ten New Generation Thinkers by BBC Radio 3, BBC Arts, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Head and shoulders photo of a young person with short dark hair. They are smiling and facing the viewer but looking to the right of the image.

Dr Kierri Price

(they/them)
Speaker

Kierri is one of the curators of the Wellcome Collection exhibition ‘Expecting: Birth, Belief and Protection’. They are an independent researcher and former CHASE Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded PhD student, based jointly at Birkbeck, University of London and Wellcome Collection. Their research focuses on the manuscripts and artefacts of late medieval England, particularly those that relate to interactivity, accessibility and the protection of the body and the soul. 

Black and white photo of the head and shoulders of a woman wearing glasses and dangling earrings. She has a broad smile and is looking directly at the viewer.

Mars Lord

(she/her)
Speaker

Mars Lord is a doula, a life coach for Black women, a birth activist, and a leading voice in Black maternal health and reproductive justice. As a doula educator, she is known for direct, grounded teaching that helps people lead with clarity and truth.

Black and white photograph of a the head and shoulders of a young woman with short dark hair. She is smiling and looking directly at the camera.

Maria Fannin

(she/her)
Speaker

Maria Fannin is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Bristol, UK. Her research focuses on gendered notions of risk and responsibility, particularly in relation to reproductive justice, health and politics. She has carried out research on the value attached to human placental tissue in the biosciences and reproductive decision-making in an era of unfolding climate crisis. She has collaborated in multi-disciplinary research with life scientists, philosophers, and artists and is a trustee of the Feminist Archive South.

Michelle Wood

British Sign Language interpreter

Michelle has been a qualified British Sign Language Interpreter for over 20 years and has been working with the Wellcome Collection for the last 10 years. She loves being a small part of the team who ensure that the Deaf Community have full access to what, in her view, is one of the best places in London. NRCPD no: 1009790.

Photograph of the head and shoulders of a woman with dark shoulder-length hair. She is smiling and looking at the camera.

Sarah Meeks

(she/her)
British Sign Language interpreter

Sarah is a fully qualified performance interpreter and CODA. She has been working in the Deaf world for over 20 years and has lots of experience in health and social care and the arts.