S48 Creative arts / Women and Birth 26 (2013) S44–S50

How I know what I know

Jude Maslin 1,2

1 QVH for Women, LGH Launceston, Tasmania,Australia2 UTAS, Tasmania, Australia

A series of images illustrate how a collective of people andevents contribute to the formation of our knowledge of breastfeeding. The work aims to demonstrate how we are inherentlyinfluenced by others in our life, organised learning, and life events.The viewer is challenged to consider the depth of his/her ownknowledge and skills and how he/she shares that with others.This concept of deep knowledge and wide experience is respectedas amasterful resource, however, this artist/midwife believes thatwhen we have known something for a long time, we have lit-tle concept that others do not know anything of that topic. Thisbegs the questions: How do we know? How do we teach? Whatunderstanding can we expect somone to have following our briefcontact?

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2013.08.148

Birth photography

Jane McCrae

Jane McCrae Photography, Central Coast, NSW,Australia

I believe in the power of my photographic images to do every-thing from impacting on an individual to changing global attitudestowards birth. It is my hope that I can inspire and empower women,their partners and care providers locally and globally to embraceand celebrate birth as the most wondrous life event that it is. I alsowish to cement in the community’s mind that women are beau-tifully created to birth babies and to trust in the design of birth,along with promoting the role of midwives and the integral partthey play in the child bearing family. My photo journalistic style ofphotography and reverence for the birth space, enables me to cap-ture birth without being obtrusive in any way. My images capturethe vulnerability, power and rawness of labor as women let go andsurrender to the amazing capabilities of their body. I capture themiraculous event of a baby’s descent, as a woman’s body slowlyopens as a baby is born. I also capture the pure joy, that breath tak-ing long awaited meeting when mother and child lock eyes for thatvery first time. My images convey the fierce pure love and gentletenderness of welcoming a precious babe in to the world. Imagineif all we were ever exposed to were positive images of birth. Ourwhole birthing culture could potentially be so different. My imagesact as an instrument to normalise the behaviour of birth, affirmingthe fact that we are perfectly created to birth. They are an impor-tant educational tool helping both parents and health professionalsunderstand for example what happens in the birth process, differ-ent positions for labour and birth and what a placenta looks like.My images show the beautiful role that midwives play in caring forwomen and their families.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2013.08.149

Breast feeding poster display

Tasmanian Aboriginal Corporation

The aim is to display and celebrate some beautiful photogra-phy in poster format of local Tasmanian Aboriginal women; babiesbreast feeding, families and nature Good Food Strong Children –kipli nayri luwutina rrala. The work is important because it recog-nises the local work of Aboriginal women and health carers inTasmania and are just beautiful.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2013.08.151

Core of life

Ana Navidad

Youth and Family Education Resources (YFER),Tasmania, Australia

Youth and Family Education Resources (YFER) established theCore of Life (COL) program to be a National unique culturally inclu-sive life-education program designed for youth, focusing on therealities of pregnancy, birth, infant feeding and early parenting.Interwoven throughout the program is the exploration of strategiesto support the ongoing strengthening of family relationships withinlocal communities, and in 2012, YFER embarked on a partner-ship with the Indigenous Early Childhood Development Strategythroughout communities in Tasmania, Australia. Tasmania has oneof the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Australia, secondonly to the Northern Territory. The Tasmanian rate of births for15–19 year olds is 27.1 births per 100, significantly higher than thenational average of 16.1. Further to that, communities in South-ern Tasmania such as Derwent Valley, Brighton and Glenorchy arerecording rates significantly higher than the Tasmanian average.The proportion of students who had experienced sexual inter-course has increased between 2002 and 2008 surveys of Australiansecondary students. In 2002 35% of students reported having sex-ual intercourse with this proportion increasing to 40% in 2008. TheCOL program is targeted at young people at a stage when theyunderstand the relationship between actual and possible eventsand may be experiencing their first sexual encounter. COL is a tar-geted early intervention program aimed at youth in grades 9–10,involving both male and females and is part of a multi-facetedapproach which has been integrated with local service provision,and involved other key players currently addressing teenage preg-nancy in Tasmania. This presentation will explore the role out ofthe COL training program to over 60 Tasmanians working withyouth and the flow on provision of youth education sessions tomale and female youth all throughout communities of Tasma-nia. The strengths of the program will be explored, including theIndigenous components of the program and also the advantages ofhaving funded a local central ‘champion’ at the regional level viaa COL Coordinator role for ongoing mentoring and support. Pho-tographic imagery will be included in this presentation to enableparticipants to view the rich experiences the youth and local facil-itators explore and share together in promoting healthy, strongand respectful relationships whilst aiming to support the decreaseof teenage pregnancy amongst youth in Tasmania. It is a visual(screen projected) presentation with creatively beautiful images. Itis important because it is relevant, local, and has a strong creativepresentation. The relevance is in the arena of Life and Art.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2013.08.152