Exhibition series to engage audiences in health and wellbeing discussions

Ikon gallery has announced a programme of exhibitions and events that engage audiences in dialogue about health and wellbeing.

Conversations range from infant feeding in public spaces and the medicalisation of maternal bodies to the impact of natural environments on our physical and mental health.

The programme contributes a comprehensive evidence base to inform policy development for Birmingham City Council Public Health, such as a creative health strategy.

Artist-in-residence Sally Butcher presents Visible Bodies from 5 June to 7 July, focusing on themes of gender, care and the space of the reproductive and maternal body, through the lens of her practice-based research about experiences of infertility.

Sally Butcher said: “I’m drawn to Feed’s use of women’s stories to inspire the chair’s making and the fragmented audio narratives that sit around the body in the feeding space.

“Developing this interest in sharing lived experience, I wish to create work using women’s words around (in)fertility not as a storytelling project, but creating pieces that brings these women’s accounts together creatively in a collective telling.”

Meanwhile, Green Spaces (2024) is a showcase of photography by Birmingham-born artist Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora and members of the Erdington community who have explored the benefits of nature to our health. It will run from 12 to 23 June.

Featuring artwork by artist Jade de Montserrat, the chair integrates audio works and videos about infant feeding, gender and public space.

The work acts as a focus for sharing experiences and challenging social attitudes towards feeding and mothering. A screen and speakers in the headrest offer sitters specially commissioned audio artworks about feeding, resting and public space.

Dr Justin Varney, Director of Public Health, Birmingham City Council said: “The Feeding Chair provides an opportunity through the visual arts to discuss barriers to infant feeding with fresh eyes.

“As a society we don't openly discuss this essential part of raising a child and the way that public settings preclude parents from this important time with their child."