Where We Will Go, 2023

Synopsis

Where We Will Go is a short video and animation work that builds upon the act of walking and being in places that resonate with meaning, to articulate the experience of losing a twin from a multiple pregnancy. Even as one baby has been lost, the survival of the co-twin means that parents navigate a particularly difficult interplay of grief and joy. Using conversations, inks and drawings produced in workshops and on walks, the film captures the ways we can use nature as a space and a material to explore feelings. Where We Will Go begins to find language for the impact on, and the continuing effects felt by parents, siblings, family and friends. It was written and edited by artist-researcher Kate Sweeney, drawing upon her practice of exploring the production of arts materials from our intimate surroundings as a form of archiving.

Where We Will Go was conceived by Professor Anne Whitehead and Professor Judith Rankin. It builds on Professor Rankin’s previous research with parents and health professionals, and Professor Whitehead’s research on memory and grief. Whitehead and Rankin sought to create a project that both advocated for the experience of perinatal loss from multiple pregnancy that currently remains overlooked, and provides a source of comfort for parents and families who have experienced a similar loss.

The project was run in partnership with the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary and with the affiliated charity Tiny Lives. It was supported by the Newcastle University Medical Humanities Network and the Humanities Research Institute.

The film was funded by the Humanities and Social Sciences Impact Fund and the Tilly Hale Fund within the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University.

Biography

Contact

If you would like to be in contact about this film, please email Anne Whitehead (anne.whitehead@newcastle.ac.uk)