Feeding Chair

The Tetley, Leeds
14th – 19th Nov 2023

As part of Baby Week UK, we brought the Feeding Chair to the The Tetley art gallery in Leeds, alongside other artworks and activities which we programmed in the space. These included:

Colouring sheets created from the image bank of Diversity in Infant Feeding, an organisation which aims to change how infant feeding is portrayed by promoting inclusivity and increasing representation.

Baby on a colourful rug, drawing on a colouring sheet with pictures of people breastfeeding.

Diversity in Infant Feeding colouring sheet (photo by Fiona Finchett)

Feeding Futures Floor Flag by design researcher Sally Sutherland. Created especially for the event, the Floor Flag is a site for intergenerational connection, feelings, listening and a better understanding of diverse experiences of infant feeding. The movable words on the flag are prompts from eight infant feeding-related activists, who Sally interviewed as part of her PhD research. They acted as starting points for conversations about people’s experiences of infant feeding and discussions about what a feeding-friendly public realm would look and feel like.

White woman seated on a colourful hexagonal rug in a wood panelled room.

Feeding Futures Floor Flag by Sally Sutherland

Art and Design School Manifesto for Making and Feeding Futures is a call to action to make space for the maternal and parental voice in design education and research. Created by Sally Sutherland as part of a campaign to make universities more family-friendly, the manifesto has been adopted by other institutions and artists and was presented at the UK Houses of Parliament earlier this year. Textbook Studio created a bespoke version of the manifesto to fit the unique architecture of the gallery.

Detail of pink poster with the words 'Do not tell me to be quiet of be a 'good girl', or a 'good mother', I am tired and angry, and I will take up space, and not shut up.

Manifesto for Making and Feeding Futures by Sally Sutherland

Missed by Krissi Musiol is a performance work, which explored the role of mother to feed and nourish; to work and rest; a sharing of flesh as a mother's communion. We presented a looped film version of the performance during the event and you can watch a live version here.

Photo of postcards next to plates of watermelon.
 
 
Photograph of wood panelled room with a large wooden-framed chair, decorated with drawings and a colourful rug on the floor.
Two woman and two toddlers sitting on a colourful rug colouring a sheet with drawings of people breastfeeding.
Person's hand pressing an iPad screen.
Woman carrying a baby in a sling, looking at a brightly coloured poster.
Yellow poster with the words 'Art and Design Manifesto for Making and Feeding Futures.'

Photos by Fiona Finchett.