Holding TimeOvercoming the Cultural Barriers to BreastfeedingHolding Time Exhibition

Kala Sangam Arts Centre, Bradford

Visual artist Lisa Creagh and Better Start Bradford are pleased to announce that The Holding Time Project, a photography exhibition of breastfeeding portraits, is coming to Bradford. It is being held at the Kala Sangam Arts Centre and launches on the first day of Baby Week Bradford on Monday 14 November, it will run until Monday 30 January 2023.

The exhibition at Kala Sangam Arts Centre is part of a tour of venues across the North of England, showcasing this project which has been created with mothers from across the UK in Brighton, Coventry and Liverpool. Holding Time is a contemporary exhibition that aims to address and overturn breastfeeding preconceptions and myths, challenge stereotypes, and – above all else – improve breastfeeding rates by harnessing women’s knowledge and wisdom.

Commenting on the Holding Time exhibition, Lisa Creagh says: “I’m delighted to be bringing the Holding Time exhibition to Bradford. Breastfeeding isn’t just invisible in culture, on TV, in the media, it’s invisible in our lives, our photo streams, our messages. It’s a maternal experience that is widely misunderstood, ignored and sidelined, despite occupying many countless hours, of the mothers who practice it.”

“These women are at the heart of The Holding Time Project. Their voices and the validity of their experience is the central structure of the project. Their ideas about what needs to change, what should happen and doesn’t, how things could be different and better are the driving force behind the project.”

Kerry Bennett, Integration and Change Manager, Better Start Bradford, said: “We are all thrilled that Lisa has chosen Bradford as the latest location for the Holding Time exhibition. It’s perfect that it’s opening on the first day of this year’s Baby Week Bradford, and being supported by our breastfeeding partners. I want to encourage mums and families from across the district to visit the exhibition and the events that are being held there during Baby Week Bradford.”

Accompanying Events:

Launch party with Singing Mamas, November 16th 2022

Storytelling workshops run by Rachel New of Creative Lives

Motherstalk: Live event by mothers of Bradford, Coventry and Liverpool, January 28th 2023

The Holding Time Project

The exhibition at Kala Sangam Arts Centre is part of a tour of venues across the North, showcasing this project which has been created with mothers across the UK in Brighton, Coventry and Liverpool. The Holding Time Project has been running in cities across the UK since 2018. It is an inter-disciplinary, multi-channel, multi platform and operates city to city. By working with health professionals, academics, and grassroots networks, it is intended to dismantle the basis for polarisation , a lack of dialogue, and bring about meaningful change in UK breastfeeding policy.

This project treads carefully the line between promoting breastfeeding whilst attempting to respect and understand the complexity of the experience and circumstance of new mums. The project is research-based with positive imagery at its core. The aims are to increase breastfeeding rates, empower breastfeeding mothers and improve understanding about the complexity of issues around breastfeeding. The portraits are accompanied by documentary style VLOGs to give a voice to mothers who have breastfed, highlighting the challenges they faced.

See: Marking World Breastfeeding Week 01-07 August 2022