Uncaged

Abstract

Radical imagination is required to cultivate equitable and just systems that offer optimal perinatal care within our communities. The practice of art is a mechanism for exploring and envisioning an equitable and just future—a future where pregnant capable people and their families can flourish. This creative work submission includes a mixed media drawing, entitled Uncaged, that explores the process of nondominant hand drawing as a tool for reducing self-criticism, accessing creativity and emotion, and reestablishing (re)connection to intuition. In the artist statement, the artist discusses the effects of this practice on her work in promoting health equity in perinatal care as a midwifery/women's health nurse practitioner (WHNP) educator and leader.

Artistic Statement

Radical imagination is required to cultivate equitable and just systems that offer optimal perinatal care within our communities. The practice of art is a mechanism for exploring and envisioning an equitable and just future—a future where pregnant capable people and their families can flourish. While the image of a beautiful bird, wings outstretched, powerful and free, may conjure feelings of a hopeful future, Uncaged is more about the process. Guided by a psychotherapist friend trained in expressive arts, this was my first non-dominant hand drawing. It is an exercise used in art therapy to reduce self-criticism, access creativity and emotion, and reestablish connection to intuition.

Professionally, as a midwife/women's health nurse practitioner (WHNP) educator and leader, I operate primarily in the constructs of health care and academia, both steeped in racism, patriarchy, and classism. These oppressive forces are especially amplified by political actors who reject respectful, humane, and evidence-based perinatal care of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and immigrant communities. For me, as a second-generation Latina in the United States and first-generation college graduate, the practice of non-dominant hand drawing is an antidote to the perfectionism and other characteristics of white supremacy culture in the institutions all around me that can be stifling. It is restorative and a useful tool that moves me out of stagnation and paralyzation brought on by resulting frustration and overwhelm. The creation of Uncaged was a freeing process in that moment, the outcome both shocking and inspiring. Though subsequent pieces feel less momentous, the process of creating them has helped me move past creativity blocks in my work and thought. Uncaged hangs in my office as a daily reminder of what lies within and what is possible. Through Uncaged, I offer the practice of non-dominant hand drawing as a tool for co-conspirators to reconnect with their ability to reimagine in the face of perinatal care challenges that often feel so big and unmovable.