Visuals Speaking the Unspoken as a Tool for Future Care

In this article we describe the creation and usefulness of an art-making community initiative that has become a visual teaching tool to help rethink and challenge normalized practices in Obstetrics. The visuals are promoting more caring spaces and relationships. An unexpected online introduction with the two authors during the COVID pandemic resulted in a funded project in which a group of 17 women embroidered their difficult lived experiences in public birthing facilities in South Africa. The unexpected and abusive events they recalled and depicted resonated with what has been witnessed and shared by undergraduate medical students at a South African university. These unprofessional practices towards birthers worldwide has become known as obstetric violence, an under-acknowledged form of gender-based violence. This difficult topic refers to the cruel, unethical practices perpetrated largely by those who ought to care, the healthcare professionals. Over many decades, it has been hidden and silenced within the hierarchy of medicine. Furthermore, the medicalization of birthing practices has tended to undermine cultural practices and knowledges. What has become apparent is that very few art-based community projects are available as resources to engage with obstetric violence. We contend and demonstrate that visual artifacts can enable alternative, creative and imaginative thinking to engage with this global problem to foster a shift in established practices for a more caring and compassionate future. The visual artifacts have become a powerful resource to address obstetric violence in training workshops for health professionals and others connected to birthing practices, thereby acting as an innovative advocacy tool that can amplify patient voices towards promoting respectful maternity care for all.