Yukon Birthwork Manifesto Part 1: From Interviews to Artwork
In the winter and spring or 2024 I had the honour of working on a special project with Queer Yukon Society. The goal of the project was to gain a bit more insight on what it’s like to access reproductive care in the territory, in order to know how to better advocate for peoples’ needs as service providers. During this project I got to chat with many Yukoners about their experiences accessing pregnancy, birth, postpartum, abortion, and fertility care while living in the territory. The conversations were sometimes lighthearted, sometimes heavy with grief, and always precious experiences that I hold dear. They taught me so much and I carry those teachings forward in my work and my life.
As we worked on this project, my friend and collaborator Youkali and I wondered how best to share what we heard. We didn’t want to publish a boring report— it was important to us that the knowledge be shared with ease and accessibility to people rather than governments. We want to help create connections and a space for Yukoners to talk about what’s going on in terms of reproductive care in the territory, and this is what we came up with:
Yukon Birthwork Manifesto is a project that took the “research findings” from our conversations and turned them into art pieces. We worked with five Yukon artists to illustrate, represent, and bring to life folks’ experiences with reproductive care in the territory. And then we got postcards made, so that the beautiful artworks and important messages can be shared and spread through our communities. Working with local Queer and Racialized artists on this project was so fun and moving. Here are the resulting artworks, accompanied by a short descriptions by their makers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Please contact me if you or your organization would like some of these beautiful postcards! There are plenty to go around.
Connecting to Our Culture Through the Birth of Our Children
By Shadunjen Van Kampen | @shadunjensimages
Spirits circle an expectant mother, eager for one to go on and rejoin the human world soon. In the Sky World, though the mother cannot see them, primordial beings symbolizing Yukon First Nations birth cycle ceremonies, stories and matrilineal society guide her through the process as she connects with them through her earthly practices. A traditional moss bag and attached red umbilical cord pouch waits to house the newborn.
This design depicts an ancestor holding and protecting a little spirit that left our physical world too soon. The design coming out of the ancestor’s hands depict the movement of a celestial protection surrounding the ancestor and a baby.
Reality is, many of us don’t fit into just one story; we come from different cultural backgrounds, genders, sexual orientations, communities and much more. Looking at the people in my life, it’s clear that we need a healthcare system that understands and embraces these differences, responding thoughtfully to everyone’s unique needs. There are so many layers to the birthing experience, and we benefit from the support of our friends, family, doulas, midwives, and even nature through each of these steps. Ultimately, we all want the freedom to choose how we bring new life into the world in a way that is reflective of who we are. We want choice in how we give birth.
In the research findings, I heard over and over a call for connection as healing and medicine reproductive justice- to the land, tradition, knowledge, each other. And the ways in which quality connection needs support- through competent and informed care, culture and identity affirmation, continuous consent and choice. I depicted local plant helpers: wild cranberries for fertility, wild carrot flowers blooming choice (as an abortifacient) and Caribou antlers to call back to the land that holds us all.
Thinking about eggs: a fragile symbol of fertility and food, as well as a metaphor for closeted transness.
Thinking about isolation: the social isolation when you are giving birth but don’t look like a “mother” because of masculinity, queerness, etc. The physical isolation of living in the communities, and the fear that comes with being alone. How all the communities medically fall under a “wilderness zone” for first aid because we are too remote.
Thinking about seeds: something so tiny and fertile can become an enormous, towering tree. Seeds take their time but eventually sprout.