On 13th July, 19 women came to the Museum in the Park to share their stories of motherhood and menopause, and to create a piece of bunting to represent their story. These artworks are now on display and their stories available to read.

The Women’s Art Activation System – artists Sarah Dixon and Sharon Bennett - created the Baby Makers: Making History workshop (supported by The National Lottery Community Fund). It was in response to the Museum’s call out to tackle missing histories of menstruation, maternity and menopause. These areas of female health are poorly represented in the Museum collections.

At the end of this display the individual pieces will be stitched together and both the bunting and the stories will go into the Museum collection as a snapshot of a moment in time. This means that in the future our successors will be able to tell some of the stories that were previously missing.

However we’d like to do more.

Have you experienced menstruation, maternity or menopause in the Stroud District? Do you have objects that you feel would tell a story of your experiences, or those of your family in the past? Are you a trans or non-binary person who would like your experiences in these areas represented?

If you can help us, please get in touch.