Lisa Visser

My approach to this project was divided by research and production. The research took on a casual approach to interviewing, talking, listening and reading.

It would seem as if half the people I spoke had a story about being related to a midwife, or their friend’s baby was caught by a midwife, or they have an interest in being a midwife, or they know a doula. The rest of the people, like me, had never known a midwife. When I told my mom I was doing this project she said, “Are there still Midwives around?”

Which seemed to be a common response. You are either in the know, or you are living in the past.

By the time I was prepared to begin production, I was overwhelmed by the wealth of information I had and the multifaceted profession of midwifery that I was not prepared for. Should I explore the gender specific nature of the profession? Should I focus on the marginalized individuals who lost midwifery privileges after legislation in 1994? Or issues of equity and oppression that began in the 1930’s from the medical community in North America, meanwhile European countries fostered and supported the thriving profession of Midwifery? Or focus on the increase in the implementation of caesarean births and use of epidurals? Should I take the opportunity to help educate the community, and share what I had learned over the course of several months? What about all the stereotypes that midwives live with, and the ideological challenges they face when working in a hospital environment? What about herbs, homeopathy, and old wives tales?

It was all too interesting.

The exhibition consists of a video, a series of small bookworks, and a quilt.
The bookworks try to capture a small sampling of some of the interesting facets I was drawn to. The video encapsulates some of the information I have learned through my interviews with the Midwives and some other members of the community.

The quilt, with the text WITH POWER AND DIGNITY reflects the final point in the Philosophy of Midwifery Care in Ontario, that midwives are there to support the client, “so that she may give birth safely, with power and dignity”. That about summed up what I had learned of the Community Midwives of Kingston; I had met a group of strong and proud, but at the same time overwhlemingly humble, intelligent, intuitive and profound women.