Designing Motherhood

When was the menstrual cup created? And what will the future birthing chair look like? Designing Motherhood is an exhibition about how design has influenced human reproduction over the past 150 years to enable, facilitate, or prevent our arrival into the world.

The exhibition showcases nearly 300 items, both historical and contemporary, involved in the arc of human reproduction, ranging from menstrual cups1, breast pumps, and baby monitors2 to medical tools and maternity clothing. It explores objects and processes through a variety of fields: art, photography, product design, posters3, advertisements, fashion, and architecture, with a selection emerging from various cultural and geographical backgrounds.

While being born is a universal human experience, the designs that shape it are not. Designing Motherhood invites you to consider why and how we have developed designs to facilitate reproductive health, and to ponder the political, economic, and social implications of how we medicalize reproduction.

The exhibition is curated by US based team: Zoë Greggs, Michelle Millar Fisher, Gabriella Nelson, Juliana Rowen Barton, Amber Winick. Swedish researcher and author Karin Carlsson has collaborated to supplement material from Sweden and the Nordic region.