ABSTRACT
The Birth Project is an Arts and Humanities Funding Council supported research project investigating the role that arts engagement could play in ante-natal and post-natal care. This chapter outlines the basis of the project, articulate its research questions, discuss the methodology employed and then articulate some of the discourses that arose in the groups. In the Birth Project we are exploring women’s experience of childbirth and the transition to motherhood using the arts and then presenting the research findings in films and exhibitions. The fact that birthing professionals are now managing more births with the same resources was acknowledged. In Mothers Make Art structured techniques were used to enable the participants to explore the nature of meaning making and to construct and deconstruct works. The disempowering nature of the hospital environment is illustrated. The supportive nature of the groups and a sense of shared experience was important.
