The (In)visible Women Installation is an innovative research dissemination, public and professional engagement project. The Installation uses audio-stories as a method of immersing participants in the world of Lily who is a pregnant woman.
The installation is designed to allow participants to make an emotional and visceral connection with Lily’s experience of maternal healthcare and pregnant embodiment. The character of Lily is based on findings from Sushila’s PhD research which explored experiences of larger embodiment in pregnancy. As Lily’s body is not present, listeners are unencumbered by assumptions which might prevent her story being heard.
The Installation provides a platform for sharing individual experiences of embodiment, and an opportunity to engage, through a variety of media, with the politics related to the larger body and the governance of pregnancy.
What participants have said about the Installation
It was really intense and moving.
I completely lost all sense of my own body and existed purely within the story. An ‘out of body’ experience.
I hadn’t expected such an a strong emotional reaction but the audio-story and props were very powerful.
The installation was designed in collaboration with inTer-aCtive artist Maya Chowdhry
Maya uses Transmedia storytelling, poetry and live art to explore social justice issues such as food sovereignty and climate justice.
The installation was funded by the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh.
