Decolonising Maternity – artists and academics in New Delhi and Brighton creating work on experiences of maternity

In the autumn of 2021, the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing, University of Brighton, funded a symposium led by myself Jess Moriarty and Kate Aughterson, called, Performing Maternities. The conference was a magical space where we laughed and cried over collective and individual experiences, and also the work on maternity – critical and creative – that the people taking part had produced. Creative practice informed by getting pregnant, not getting pregnant, having a baby, not having a baby, and the real and imagined stories that these times inspired meant that the event was rich and full, surprising and relatable.

Part of the discussions at the event were focused on the challenges associated with maternity and particularly for people from marginalised and underserved communities. A key question arising from the event was: How can creative methods develop understanding and decolonise maternity? In this article, the authors, Jess Moriarty and Ruchika Wason Singh, discuss our response to this question via a recorded conversation and provide insights into our creative and critical work.