The first time I saw Marianne Wobcke speak it was in an interview as she was gifted Australia Council’s Ros Bower Award for Community Arts and Cultural Development. I cried as she spoke about healing trauma through art, something she knew about deeply as a midwife at the coalface of birth and death. It was also something she had experienced personally, as a member of The Stolen Generation supporting women as they underwent their transition into motherhood. It was her creative process as an artist that had helped her understand the story of the generations that came before her, of her own prenatal and perinatal experience, and became her companion in understanding and transforming her own experience. She has since gone on to use art to support others through their own trauma and transformation. Marianne is now undertaking research into creativity and health, and has a wealth of knowledge and lived experience in these areas.

In this interview Marianne spoke about her journey as an artist and about supporting people through the great threshold experiences of birth and death. Despite some of the heavy topics covered in this conversation, this episode is buoyed by Marianne’s infectious joy and spirit.

You can see Marianne’s art and find out more about her work at the websites below:

www.perinataldreaming.com.au

Understanding Country

Show Credits:

The music heard in this episode is:

Joy Inside Our Skin - Hello Satellites

All Fiction - Hello Satellites