Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Join us for a panel discussion on the long and complicated history of women and their bodies in the context of work. The panel will share their research and lived experience on a range of topics such as Black women’s bodies, reproductive health, fertility, miscarriage and birth trauma.
This event is inspired by Helen King’s book ‘Immaculate Forms', which examines the gate-keeping role of medicine and religion over women’s organs. It is also influenced by our exhibition 'Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights', which explores experiences of physical work and its impacts on health and the body.
Elizabeth Lynch MBE works with artists, organisations and communities as a strategic advisor and researcher. She is interested in arts and science collaborations, youth arts, creative ageing practices and in making cultural democracy.
Helen King is Professor Emerita of Classical Studies at the Open University. She is a historian of medicine and the body, and has held visiting posts at Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota, the Peninsula Medical School, and the universities of Vienna, Texas, Notre Dame and British Columbia. She is also an elected member of the General Synod of the Church of England, where she is vice-chair of the Gender and Sexuality Group. Since her first monograph, ‘Hippocrates’ Woman: Reading the female body in ancient Greece’ (1988), including her latest release ‘Immaculate Forms’, she has published on aspects of gynaecology and obstetrics from classical Greece to the 19th century.
Dr Annabel Sowemimo is a doctor, activist and writer. As well as being a sexual and reproductive health consultant in the NHS, she is also the founder of community-based organisation Reproductive Justice Initiative, formed to address the colonial history of sexual and reproductive health. Annabel is a PhD candidate and Harold Moody Scholar at King’s College London. Her first book, ‘Divided’ (Wellcome Collection/Profile Books) is an exploration of race and health.
Emma Smith is a visual artist who is based in the UK and works internationally. Her work is research- and production-based, and often involves bringing together multi-disciplinary teams, including collaborations with academics, professionals and hobbyists. She has a social practice and creates platforms for people to share research, experience and knowledge on human relationships and the places we cohabit, with a particular interest in the hidden and invisible. She has exhibited widely in the UK and Europe.
Link to Captions= 121captions.1capapp.com/event/wellcome-collection
Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/wellcomecollection
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/explorewellcome
See us on Instagram: instagram.com/wellcomecollection
Join us for a panel discussion on the long and complicated history of women and their bodies in the context of work. The panel will share their research and lived experience on a range of topics such as Black women’s bodies, reproductive health, fertility, miscarriage and birth trauma.
This event is inspired by Helen King’s book ‘Immaculate Forms', which examines the gate-keeping role of medicine and religion over women’s organs. It is also influenced by our exhibition 'Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights', which explores experiences of physical work and its impacts on health and the body.
Elizabeth Lynch MBE works with artists, organisations and communities as a strategic advisor and researcher. She is interested in arts and science collaborations, youth arts, creative ageing practices and in making cultural democracy.
Helen King is Professor Emerita of Classical Studies at the Open University. She is a historian of medicine and the body, and has held visiting posts at Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota, the Peninsula Medical School, and the universities of Vienna, Texas, Notre Dame and British Columbia. She is also an elected member of the General Synod of the Church of England, where she is vice-chair of the Gender and Sexuality Group. Since her first monograph, ‘Hippocrates’ Woman: Reading the female body in ancient Greece’ (1988), including her latest release ‘Immaculate Forms’, she has published on aspects of gynaecology and obstetrics from classical Greece to the 19th century.
Dr Annabel Sowemimo is a doctor, activist and writer. As well as being a sexual and reproductive health consultant in the NHS, she is also the founder of community-based organisation Reproductive Justice Initiative, formed to address the colonial history of sexual and reproductive health. Annabel is a PhD candidate and Harold Moody Scholar at King’s College London. Her first book, ‘Divided’ (Wellcome Collection/Profile Books) is an exploration of race and health.
Emma Smith is a visual artist who is based in the UK and works internationally. Her work is research- and production-based, and often involves bringing together multi-disciplinary teams, including collaborations with academics, professionals and hobbyists. She has a social practice and creates platforms for people to share research, experience and knowledge on human relationships and the places we cohabit, with a particular interest in the hidden and invisible. She has exhibited widely in the UK and Europe.
Link to Captions= 121captions.1capapp.com/event/wellcome-collection
Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/wellcomecollection
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/explorewellcome
See us on Instagram: instagram.com/wellcomecollection
