Working in collaboration with LJMU and the International Slavery Museum, Collective Encounters is using creativity to understand the links between Black maternal health in the past and present.

The project addresses inequality in maternal care and birth outcomes. Together with participants from the local community, the project aims to establish what insights could inform guidance for future practice.

An initial series of workshops took place in 2024 led by Natalie Denny (project manager and lead artist) and Michelle Richards (lead artist and art therapist), attended by 5 Black mothers. In the workshops, participants discussed historical source material (e.g. photographs of enslaved people and written memories of slavery) and artefacts from the International Slavery Museum (e.g. photographs and medicine bottles). Participants were supported to use poetry/creative prose/telling stories to connect with their thoughts and feelings throughout the sessions.

The project has so far produced:

• A poem and shrine to honour Granny Marie, a midwife who lived on a Louisiana plantation. She was 34 when slavery was abolished and died in 1935, aged 104. See the video above to hear the poem and see some of the shrine.
• A leaflet providing information for Black pregnant people, to be distributed to local Maternity services. Email A.Livesey@ljmu.ac.uk if you have a service that can display these leaflets.

For more information about the Black Maternal Health project contact Michelle: michelle@collective-encounters.org.uk or Andrea Livesey (LJMU): A.Livesey@ljmu.ac.uk