Art for change through engagement (ACE), is a collaboration between ourselves at the IMS-MRL and the Cambridge School of Art at Anglia Ruskin University. The project was initiated by Jane Sugars when she was our PE Co-ordinator and involved Danielle Jones (PhD student with the Meek group), PhD student Amanda Lavis from the Cambridge School of Art, and members of a Public and Patient Involvement Panel. The idea was to work together to co-create ‘art’ with a focus on a metabolic disease or condition studied at the IMS-MRL and/or people’s experiences of it.
Black and South Asian women are at a higher risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), the most common medical complication of pregnancy, and related long-term health complications. However, they are often under-represented in patient advocacy groups and research studies. The aim of the artwork we have created is to promote inclusivity across the Diabetes in Pregnancy clinic at the Rosie Hospital, and make all women feel welcome in a research and clinical setting. The artwork is a textile installation which has been created and informed by researchers and women who represent a range of ethnicities and who have been affected by GDM, and have been participating in the DiGest clinical trial, funded by Diabetes UK. Pregnant women, mothers and family members have contributed textiles to the project which they felt symbolise their culture, and attended a workshop to turn these textiles in to petals which in turn have been combined to create a rose bush to resemble The Rosie Maternity hospital, the essence of a mother growing and developing through pregnancy, and also the community of people it takes to nurture a baby.
Black and South Asian women are at a higher risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), the most common medical complication of pregnancy, and related long-term health complications. However, they are often under-represented in patient advocacy groups and research studies. The aim of the artwork we have created is to promote inclusivity across the Diabetes in Pregnancy clinic at the Rosie Hospital, and make all women feel welcome in a research and clinical setting. The artwork is a textile installation which has been created and informed by researchers and women who represent a range of ethnicities and who have been affected by GDM, and have been participating in the DiGest clinical trial, funded by Diabetes UK. Pregnant women, mothers and family members have contributed textiles to the project which they felt symbolise their culture, and attended a workshop to turn these textiles in to petals which in turn have been combined to create a rose bush to resemble The Rosie Maternity hospital, the essence of a mother growing and developing through pregnancy, and also the community of people it takes to nurture a baby.