Art, Motherhood & Creative Health
Explore the ideas, artistic research and creative development behind Holding Time, from maternal experiences and breastfeeding culture to immersive art and health.
The Holding Timepiece is an evolving artwork by Lisa Creagh that challenges conventional ways of measuring time. Inspired by Cosmatesque geometry and developed through glass sculpture, photography and 3D animation, it visualises maternal time as something that grows rather than passes. Created over nearly a decade, the Timepiece is now central to Holding Time’s development of an immersive virtual reality intervention designed to support mothers experiencing neonatal intensive care.
I’ve come to realise why it was hard at times in my breastfeeding journey and a lot of this relating to being neurodivergent. As we see an increase in awareness around hidden disabilities, I hope other mums can feel confident to seek help if they’re finding it hard to breastfeed/parent a child with additional needs.
Stones is a five-minute film by Lisa Creagh reflecting on 25 years of living with endometriosis and severe menstrual pain. Created as the first of a two-part work, the film uses personal memory to explore chronic illness, treatment, menopause and resilience. It was made in collaboration with Creagh’s daughter and acknowledges the pioneering surgery that made motherhood possible.
I’m Rachel New, a broadcaster, writer and workshop facilitator. I’ve been running creative and therapeutic writing workshops for breastfeeding mothers, … More
Ablaze in Bradford explores the ideas, collaborations and creative development behind the Holding Time Project’s ambitious Bradford programme. Artist Lisa Creagh describes how an encounter with prehistoric maternal figurines in Malta inspired the monumental Holding Time Chair, a stone sculpture connecting public art with mothers’ recorded stories. Combining photographic portraits, creative writing, exhibitions and outdoor audio trails, the project brings breastfeeding and maternal wellbeing into Bradford’s parks, hospitals and communities.
Gathering together key conversations from the Holding Time project about motherhood, breastfeeding, history, culture, support and more…!
Anna Horn writes about the challenges of breastfeeding her first child. Her unique perspective an African American offers valuable insight of the complexities around breastfeeding for black women here and abroad.
Women are constantly faced with this difficult choice. And it is often a woman’s choice whether they want to carry on with their career and keep climbing the ladder and earning more and getting what they deserve, or whether they want to prioritise their children. There’s just this constant juggle of yourself over your child. I feel like I do prioritise myself a lot. I’ve been very selfish in many ways to continue with this work. The unselfish thing perhaps, would have been to go and get a job.
I quickly realised that I needed a whole new map of my city: one that outlined the best places to meet, sit, feed without feeling awkward or in the way. better still, I needed places with built-in free activities ; mother groups, childrens activities for friends with toddlers and anywhere, ANYWHERE WITH CAKE.
Breastfeeding has profound and long-lasting health advantages, but the risks of poor maternal well-being run just as deep. The “breast is best” message has, in many cases, done more harm than good for both breastfeeding and formula feeding women. Words carry a lot of power and we need to be very careful of their use in future breastfeeding promotion campaigns.
For many, the current WHO recommendation of six months of exclusive breastfeeding is simply not realistic and can discourage mothers from even initiating breastfeeding. Instead we should follow a woman-centred approach where mothers are empowered to set their own realistic targets.
This year I received a prestigious DYCP Arts Council grant to explore the possibilities of Holding Time in VR. I set about researching the potential of VR to be a new way of showing the animation installation without the need for a ‘real’ space.
In this Holding Time article, postnatal lead midwife Angelina Steinegger reflects on bonding and attachment in the first hours, weeks and months of a baby’s life. She explores the importance of holding, talking, singing, massage, skin-to-skin contact and responsive caregiving, while reassuring parents that bonding is a gradual process rather than something that must happen immediately after birth.
In my aim to bring The Holding Time Project to areas where breastfeeding is lowest, I came to appreciate the … More
I spoke about my project and the aims of partnering with the CTU for Coventry City of Culture. I showed the animated portraits, as well as a slideshow of stills. it was the first time I had presented the work in a meidcal setting and I found the atmosphere invigorating. It gave me new insight into how clinical trials lead the way to greater understanding of new approaches.
For this event I put together a slideshow, beginning with the story of my own struggles to breastfeed, then the rationale for the Holding Time still images, how these lead to the animation and installation. Finally I talked about the project website, the breastfeeding Hubs, the YouTube Channel interviews.
by Lisa Creagh, First published at http://www.lisacreagh.com, July 2018 The theme of this years’ Photography festival Recontres d’Arles was Geopolitics, … More
In this personal reflection on Holding Time’s 2019 exhibition at ONCA Gallery in Brighton, artist Lisa Creagh explores the powerful conversations sparked by photographic portraits of breastfeeding mothers. Visitors shared experiences of isolation, conflicting medical advice, family pressures and cultural stigma, revealing how breastfeeding is shaped by social expectations as much as individual choice. The exhibition demonstrated the potential of art to create welcoming spaces for dialogue, challenge assumptions and connect mothers, families and healthcare professionals.
Why do so many mothers stop breastfeeding before they want to? In this foundational 2019 article, the Holding Time Project examines breastfeeding inequalities, declining support services and the cultural attitudes that make breastfeeding difficult. Drawing on public health research and mothers’ experiences in Brighton, the article argues that breastfeeding should not be viewed solely as an individual responsibility, but as something requiring collective social, cultural and political support.
Breastfeeding is food. It is part of the wider network of food production and relations. The food of love, as it has been called. And it is. Breastfeeding provides sustenance and nourishment and love in one swift gesture.
Birth and breastfeeding are an invitation to enter into another domain of time. Or more accurately, to be intime, to be grounded in the cycle of life.
