Artist Shona Macnaughton will be hosting a drop in and discussion session to look at materials from women’s and LGBTQ health literature in the collection. The session will focus on different ways that informational newsletters address readers and how humour is used in illustrations and cartoons as a form of care and to communicate and overcome difference. From supplements in the back pages of Spare Rib, health pamphlets from Women’s Centres and examples from Our Bodies, Ourselves, we will look at how the political is interwoven with feminist health education. This will be compared to how similar information is communicated now
in the present moment, with the rise of FemTech apps and wearables which track fertility and period cycles. The latter claims empowerment through control of oneself, the former for empowerment through collective practices of seeing and hearing.
The aim of the session is to reflect on what a space like Glasgow Women’s Library provides to communities on a day to day basis and the role of cultural spaces in the provision of healthcare in general. Shona will introduce the format of ‘participative clinic’ to allow discussions on how we feel our voice is heard, what the building provides and how collectivity is experienced in GWL.
Research gathered in the session will contribute to a new performance by the artist which will borrow from Women’s Health materials in the archive.
Glasgow Women’s Library is wheelchair accessible, with lifts to the first floor and the Mezzanine Floor. We have accessible toilets and all the bathrooms are individual closed stalls and are gender neutral. Our larger Events Space is fitted with an induction loop. A portable induction loop is also available.
Find more information on Accessibility at GWL or contact us and we will be very happy to offer assistance.
To attend, please book below and we will share an email invitation with you. If you would like to make a donation to Glasgow Women’s Library, you can do so here.
*All women-only events are inclusive of Trans and Intersex women, as well as non-binary and gender fluid people who are comfortable in a space that centres the experience of women.