ABSTRACT
The ancestral line is sticky; especially the motherline. This piece of performative research is a creative response to the role played by the siôl fagu (Welsh nursing shawl) in upholding some unexpected motherline continuities. This traditional flannel wrap is itself a developed version of the baby-carrying slings that are thought to have been amongst the first “tools” devised by humans. Passed from mother to daughter and used by mother and child, the siôl fagu was often also used by grandmother and child, grandfather and child, other kith and kin, and perhaps further beyond that circle in times of need. The siôl fagu is explored as an extension of the intimacy of motherline, which moves on from the inward process (where grandmother's womb encloses daughter and embryonic grandchild) and becomes a further matryoshka-doll layer out in the world. The siôl fagu is then a last/lasting boundary between safety and jeopardy – the grounds where all our stories take form and play out.
