Oxytocin Mothering the World
Oxytocin is an interdisciplinary event about mothers and carers that uniquely combines a bold programme of performances and live art with discussion panels and workshops.
Oxytocin is an interdisciplinary live event combining performances, live art, discussion panels and workshops across the fields of art, health and maternity services. Rooted in the lived experiences of women, birthing people and carers, it brings together artists, activists, academics, midwives and health practitioners to interrogate the systems that shape how birth, pregnancy and care are experienced. Since its first edition in 2017, the programme has developed a sustained and sharpening inquiry into reproductive justice, systemic bias and the cultural sensitivity of care, creating a platform for ground-breaking and under-represented practitioners whose work sits at the intersection of art, health and lived experience.
Oxytocin at Royal College of Art
2017, Oxytocin: Birthing the World, Royal College of Art, London The first edition brought together artists, midwives, mental health practitioners and academics to examine the medicalisation of birth and pregnancy, maternal health and wellbeing, and the under-representation of women and mothers in cultural life, through a symposium and a full day programme of performances, live art and installations.
Oxytocin at King's Cllege London
2019, Oxytocin: Mothering the World, King's College London Guy's Campus In collaboration with the Birth Rites Collection, the second edition interrogated iconography, gender and rights in reproductive and maternal health, centring the experiences of LGBTQIA and non-binary parents and birthing people through panels on gender inclusion in maternity services, a programme of commissioned performances sited across the historic Guy's Campus and lectures by Bracha L. Ettinger and Del LaGrace Volcano.
Oxytocin Science Gallery and Middlesex University
2023, Oxytocin: Collective Care, Middlesex University and Science Gallery London Expanding into a week-long festival across two venues, the third edition evaluated the cultural sensitivity of maternity care for LGBTQIA+, Black and Brown and disabled parents and birthing people, through panels, commissioned performances and community workshops on birth, infant feeding and collective care. The panels of this edition were curated by Laura Godfrey Isaacs.
The mix of speakers, performances and installations was incredible – I am not from an arts background and it challenged me to explore new ways of expressing and discussing aspects of maternity
Oxytocin has grown from a one-day symposium into one of the UK’s most distinctive interdisciplinary platforms at the intersection of art and reproductive health, building a community of practitioners, researchers and audiences committed to systemic change. The programme has been supported by Arts Council England and developed in partnership with the Royal College of Art, King’s College London, Middlesex University, Science Gallery London, the Live Art Development Agency, the Birth Rites Collection and Cuntemporary.
If you would like to partner up to bring this incredible platform to your institution, please get in touch.
