Immersive visual arts installation in Manchester: The Other in Mother

Arts and health organisation, Arc, RSA Fellows and Manchester Art Gallery have come together to exhibit a stunning and immersive visual arts installation within a geodesic dome in the Clore Art Studio this September. Fellows & friends of the RSA are warmly invited to come along.

The Other in Mother explores the psychological transition to motherhood, described as a ‘continuous process of contradictions-tensions-resolutions-new contradictions’.

With the support of Manchester Art Gallery, Arts Council England, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Cheshire East Council, Arc commissioned artist Sarah Greaves to produce the installation, building on Arc’s participatory arts work with vulnerable mums.

Following a period of research and development with women with perinatal depression & health professionals, and an interactive social media campaign, Sarah has created an installation of manipulated objects representing diverse experiences of motherhood and maternal transition.

Lead artist Sarah Greaves said: “I asked mothers on social media to think about their own ‘maternal transition’, what for them were the psychological impacts of becoming a mother and what object might represent that shift. The response was overwhelming, over 60 women contributed with images and stories from all over the world. These have really informed the final piece and the manipulated objects that will hang inside the dome.”

The Other in Mother opens on Thursday 20th September and runs until the end of Sunday 23rd in the Clore Gallery. There is a celebration launch event on Saturday 22nd at 1.30pm.

Katy McCall, Learning Manager, Families, at Manchester Art Gallery said: "We are delighted to be involved in The Other in Mother project, it is so important to raise awareness and open discussions around maternal mental health. This project builds on our work with Manchester Health Visiting Team and Sure Start, where we deliver health clinics at the gallery for new parents. As an organisation we are committed to using our city's fantastic collection and building to support other services working with families and are beginning to explore the benefits of delivering public health services in a cultural venue."

Alongside the artwork, the tour will feature workshops led by Sarah in each venue. A workshop with mums in Manchester Art Gallery is already fully booked, but there are places on a seminar for anyone interested in this work, at Manchester Art Gallery on Friday 21st September.

Lead artist Sarah Greaves said: “I’m really excited about the seminar into the Role of the Artist in Perinatal Mental Health. It will bring together artists and specialists in the field to discuss the role and potential for the arts to help women in this transition that is so under discussed and for some so devastatingly difficult.”

Places can be booked online HERE.

The Other in Mother installation tours to Leeds Library and Gallery Oldham in October, with venues in Macclesfield and Stockport in November/December. More details for all events are found on the project website.

Arc's Background
Arcis an award-winning charity based in Stockport, with a wide programme of creative activities that engage with people aged from five to 95, to improve wellbeing and help transform lives. We work right across the health and wellbeing spectrum, and in any given year support over 200 adults and young people across Stockport and the North West, in community settings and in our studios, as well as a further 600+ people through community activities and events.

Arc also organises and curates art exhibitions and facilitates arts projects across Greater Manchester and Cheshire.

Web: www.arc-centre.org

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For more information

Contact Jacqui Wood, Artistic Director:

[email protected]

0161 480 7731

07837 383540