Art, Motherhood & Creative Health
The Bradford season of the Holding Time podcast brings together a diverse range of mothers’ stories about breastfeeding, adoption, pregnancy, free-birthing, donor milk, preterm babies and birth trauma. Co-created with mothers, local infant feeding teams and community partners, the series examines breastfeeding as part of the wider experience of motherhood and maternal wellbeing in Bradford.
The Holding Time Milk Line celebrates Bradford mothers through an immersive walking trail of art, poetry, and storytelling. Created by artist Lisa Creagh for Baby Week Bradford, the trail links Family Hubs and green spaces, inviting families to listen, reflect, and connect with local stories of motherhood, feeding, and wellbeing.
The Bradford Podcast amplifies mothers’ diverse voices on breastfeeding, adoption, milk donation, birth trauma, and cultural traditions—part of Holding Time’s wider Creative Health programme in Bradford.
The Holding Time Chair was unveiled in Bowling Park, Bradford, during Baby Week 2024. Created by sculptor Dan Jones in collaboration with artist Lisa Creagh and Better Place Bradford, the monumental 4.5-tonne Lincolnshire stone sculpture celebrates motherhood, breastfeeding and the importance of rest and care. Inspired by ancient maternal figurines, the artwork provides a welcoming place for families to pause, connect with nature and discover Bradford mothers’ stories through an integrated QR code.
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.
Motherspeak brought the voices of Bradford mothers to Kala Sangam Arts Centre through a moving live performance of poetry and personal stories. Developed through creative writing workshops led by Rachel New as part of the Holding Time Project, the event explored breastfeeding, birth trauma and maternal wellbeing. Through storytelling, mothers transformed deeply personal experiences into powerful expressions of resilience, connection and shared understanding.
