Infertilities, A Curation
Edited by Elizabeth Horn, Maria Novotny, and Robin Silbergleid
Printed Paper Cased
Pages: 270 Size: 7x10
Illustrations: 55 full-color images
eBOOK
Through personal narrative, poetry, and visual art, stories of infertility that are far more nuanced than statistics, insurance diagnostic codes, and treatment plans, are brought to light. These works highlight the varied perspectives of individuals who have lived with infertility and include perspectives from women, men, and nonbinary and transgender individuals, as well as heterosexual couples, single parents by choice, and lesbian and queer-identified couples. This collection intentionally makes visible the emotional depths of infertility. From diagnosis and treatment, adoption, or living childfree, to miscarriage and pregnancy loss, editors, writers, and artists explore the range of experiences with infertility and their psychological, physical, and emotional impacts in all aspects of life. This carefully curated anthology reveals that infertility cannot be reduced to a singular narrative; instead, it is an assemblage of multiple embodied moments. Whether a reader comes to this book as someone personally affected by infertility or someone who wants to learn more about the experiences of individuals facing reproductive loss, Infertilities, A Curation invites readers to consider how creative practices such as art and writing can aid in efforts to heal individual traumas and more broadly as means of advocacy.
A gorgeous, moving, and deeply important book. The art this book showcases, and the short stories behind each piece, remind us that the complicated, painful, and often invisible experience of infertility is both shared and singular. Highly recommended for scholars of reproductive health and justice and especially for people experiencing the pain of infertility who would like to feel a little less alone.
– Jenell Johnson, professor of communication arts, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Infertilities, A Curation offers a one-of-a-kind contribution about the experience of existing within the liminal space of infertility. It speaks to and with ongoing discussions of health communication, rhetoric, gender, sex, and identity. The editors and contributors do a beautiful job of dimensionalizing infertility, bringing art, affect, theory, literature, and passion to the table in ways that are groundbreaking and heartbreaking all at the same time.
– Robin Jensen, professor of communication, University of Utah
This daring collection harnesses the power of the arts to dismantle isolation and stigma, letting the light shine through to reveal hidden layers of the infertility experience. With its diverse voices and vignettes, Infertilities, A Curation deepens our understanding of infertility’s profound and complex reverberations.
– Laura Seftel, LMHC, ATR-BC, art therapist, author of Grief Unseen: Healing Pregnancy Loss through the Arts, and founder of The Secret Club Project: Artists on Pregnancy Loss
This is a beautiful anthology about a very difficult thing, which so many people go through and yet so often feel alone in. The inventive variety of artistic expressions represent how individually infertility is experienced. For readers who have been isolated in infertility, here is community.
– Meg Lemke, editor-in-chief of MUTHA Magazine
Infertilities, A Curation offers an honest expression of experiences with infertility. The artworks and narratives in this book reveal the complexity of this condition and the profound personal journeys along its path. Infertilities, A Curation should be required reading in every health humanities curriculum—particularly at this time of vulnerability around reproductive health.
– Lisa Erdman, MFA, DA, Humanities Postdoctoral Scholar, Penn State College of Medicine
While I was moved by each individual piece, the power of Infertilities, A Curation exists as a collection. Constructed as a care-full curation of visual art, poetry, and creative nonfiction, the text offers a ‘visual and textual performance of infertility.’ This creative-critical form invites the reader to feel and see themselves in and in between, within and among the lives and experiences of the artists and writers. In being offered intimate access to the ways others have struggled with their own assumptions about love, fertility, and family, we are gifted an opportunity to reflect on our own vulnerability in these areas whether infertility has directly impacted our lives or not. And maybe that’s the actual gift of this work. The idea that whether any of us believes it, we are all impacted by the white heterosexist narratives about childbearing and family sovereignty that continue to dominate our medical and legal systems. I would recommend this book to anyone who understands and sees themself as part of a family—chosen, biological, or otherwise.
– Ames Hawkins, author of These are Love(d) Letters (Wayne State University Press)