Talking with Pictures 2022 A visual imagining of a gender equal world #BreakTheBias #InternationalWomensDay

Hosted by Laura Shobiye, Amelia Ignire, and Monica Thomas

M/Other: This photograph is part of a long cycle of work that I made about my relationship with my mother or, perhaps better, the bodily affects that touched me. I explored it in many ways, in this case through the visual arts. Here I was posing as my mother, who used to wear the kinds of overalls depicted and who I remember as always tired and always working. This kind of image owes very much to the phototherapy technique developed by my friend, the late feminist photographer, Jo Spence.

This collage represents women’s academic creativity and addressing historical injustices. I felt that it was significant that I made this collage in the committee room of the Glamorgan building, which features many portraits of prominent men. It draws attention to the historical power structures that still affect us at Cardiff University today.

This picture signifies the conflicting emotions experienced by mothers with postnatal depression. The stigma surrounding postnatal depression impacts on a mother reaching out for support, accessing healthcare services and redefining her identity. This includes the societal stigma of a ‘perfect mother’, social media portrayals of motherhood, including ‘toxic positivity‘, and self-stigmatisation of being a ‘bad mother’. The hands, which would commonly represent a heart shape if connected, are slightly broken.

One hand is coloured blue to represent the baby blues that can develop into postnatal depression. The square bracelet is dragging the hand down and breaking the ‘heart’, with weights illustrating some research identified stressors. The other hand is coloured red to symbolize the love of a mother for her baby. The heart bracelet is light and flexible, assisting in raising the hand up. The tags contain some coping strategies highlighted by mothers within my research.

It is challenging enough being a woman in local politics, but juggling community needs and a baby is only as hard as asking the question "can I bring my baby?" #breakthebias

This image is from a study conducted by Dawn Mannay and Victoria Timperley. The study explored the experiences of mature students negotiating higher education. Participants used miniature figures and objects to represent their experiences in boxes of sand. Women discussed the difficulties of trying to negotiate the competing demands on their time with paid work, housework, childcare and academic study - ‘I partially buried her because she’s like in quick sand, because there’s too much for one person to do… she can’t do it all, but she has to do it all so she has to keep her body out and she’s like flailing her arms but you can’t really, so you’re sort of half, you’re always half sunk but you’re trying to carry on’.

This is a picture of me starting out on my journey to change law, policy and practice relating to autistic and learning disabled children and their families - I was full of hope and trepidation as I went back to university in 2017 - I have gone on to complete the GDL and LPC with an LLM at Swansea University. Now as a full-time PhD scholarship student, I am not allowed to receive carers allowance for looking after my 11 year old severely learning-disabled, autistic son alongside my other 2 children who are 6 and 1 year.

I am fighting against a system that punishes mothers and parent-carers for trying to better themselves. My research makes be but a cog a machine trying to stop disability discrimination and discrimination by association against parent-carers

Home4U provides accommodation to men and women who are seeking asylum and have become destitute as a result of asylum policy. Each time I visit our only female resident, I am welcomed into her home with coffee and a meal. At first, I did not want to take from what little she had and maintain a professional boundary, but she insisted that it's part of her culture to greet guests in this way. We built a relationship during her time in Home4U and shared our life experiences. She told me about the village she comes from, and asked me about mine. She told me about the conflict in her country and her journey to the UK, and asked me about the places I've travelled to. She told me about the hardship and racisms she's faced in the UK, and asked me why I chose a career to help people seeking asylum. We found honesty, laughter and hope in every conversation. We are two women set far apart by our experiences, and yet share coffee, stories and hope that the world will be a better place for all women seeking asylum.

She has now made progress with her asylum claim and has been moved to another city. We plan to meet for coffee one day soon.

A visual representation of some of the books I have borrowed or purchased during my PhD that have helped me to consider the intersections of racialisation, gender, mothering, and imprisonment.

Although the publication of “Cantares Gallegos” is considered as the beginning of the Rexurdimento, Rosalia de Castro’s reflections on the role of women in society haven’t received much attention. In “Carta a Eduarda” she expresses her fears and repressed feelings about her surrounding society and also about herself and her work. Our piece is a response to reclaim Rosalia as a non-conformist Galician, defendant of emancipation of women, and avid reader of contemporary feminists such as George Sand.

I designed and crafted this cross stitch. My research is about the use of menstrual cups and reusable menstrual products, and I am also interested in creative and artistic methods and activism, so this piece is a combination of all of those things.

This image reflects my perceptions and experiences as a woman, mother, and PGR researcher. It reflects the multiple mental, emotional, and physical workloads involved and the power imbalances and inequities which add to the burden. It also depicts the glittering successes that some achieve, despite the barriers and burdens that could hold them down or run them over.

As an industry we do seem to be making headway in promoting opportunities to young women, but I think there is more we can do to advertise trade apprenticeships. That is why I am so passionate about wanting to engage young people, but especially young women, about a career in the industry and deliver the message that plumbing, carpentry, electrics, bricklaying, painting & decorating, mechanics, and the construction industry as a whole, is a fantastic career path to choose and is an opportunity for both boys and girls equally.

With thanks to GASP (Gender and Sexualities Research Group) at Cardiff University, the Wales Doctoral Training Partnership, and all contributors