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. <br/><br/>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.