The Labour of Care
An exhibition dedicated to centring the voices and experiences of midwives and maternity healthcare professionals.
Developed in partnership with Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) the exhibition presents artworks to explore care, labour and emotional resilience at the frontline of maternal health, providing insights into the realities of working in maternity services at a time of growing pressure on the profession.
Developed from Still Care, a pioneering programme of artist-led workshops that began at the Whitworth in 2023, the exhibition creates space for maternity staff to pause, reflect and reconnect beyond the demands of the clinical environment.
Through creative practice and collective dialogue, midwives and maternity healthcare professionals have shaped an exhibition that speaks powerfully to the humanity, complexity and emotional intensity of caring for others. Their stories and perspectives form the heart of the exhibition.
The exhibition features new artworks created by healthcare professionals in their workshop sessions presented side-by-side with selected works from the Whitworth’s internationally renowned collection, placing participants lived experiences in dialogue with artists including Marina Abramović and L.S. Lowry. Presented together, they create a rich visual and emotionally resonant landscape that considers care as both an intimate act and a wider social condition.
Paintings by Ghislaine Howard and Caroline Walker explore the experience of childbirth and everyday acts of care. Poet Courtney Conrad’s new commission On Shift (2024), from the Birth Rites Collection, is developed from interviews with Black midwives reflecting on preterm birth, receives its Manchester premiere, amplifying voices too often marginalised within public discourse.
1 August 2026 – 29 August 2027
Image Credit: Caroline Walker, Study for Ultrasound, 2021. Oil on paper © Caroline Walker. Courtesy the
Artist; GRIMM, Amsterdam/New York/London; and Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh. Photo: Peter
Mallet.
Exhibition credit: This exhibition is created by the Whitworth and developed in partnership with Manchester
University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT).
Supporters: Supported by Rayne Foundation, Friends of the Whitworth and Sands, in partnership with
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT).