Gathering Voices : A participatory storytelling project preserving women's lived experiences through conversation, creativity and connection.
Every story carries wisdom.
Gathering Voices is a long-term participatory storytelling and creative research project dedicated to collecting, preserving and amplifying women's lived experiences through oral history, creative nonfiction and community participation.
Founded by midwife, educator and writer Gemma Clifford, the project sits at the intersection of healthcare, storytelling, oral history and the arts. It is rooted in a simple but powerful belief:
Women's stories matter.
The project begins with pregnancy, birth and motherhood - experiences that shape bodies, identities, relationships and communities, while recognising that these moments exist within the wider story of women's lives.
Too often, the knowledge held within lived experience remains undocumented. Conversations happen quietly between friends, around kitchen tables or years later when someone finally feels safe enough to tell their story.
Too often, those stories disappear.
Gathering Voices exists to ensure they are heard, preserved and recognised as an important part of our shared cultural history.
A Living Archive
Through interviews, recorded conversations, reflective writing and creative participation, Gathering Voices seeks to build a living archive of women's experiences.
Rather than focusing solely on what happened, the project explores what those experiences meant, how they shaped identity and relationships, and the wisdom they carry for future generations.
Participants are invited to share:
What happened.
What they wish they had known.
What surprised them.
What they learned.
How the experience changed them.
What they hope others might take from their story.
These reflections become part of a growing body of collective knowledge that values lived experience alongside professional and academic understanding.
Why Stories Matter
Stories have the power to educate, connect and transform.
They help us make sense of difficult experiences, challenge assumptions, reduce isolation and create opportunities for empathy, understanding and change.
By listening carefully and documenting authentically, Gathering Voices aims to:
Preserve women's lived experiences as an important cultural record.
Improve birth literacy through accessible storytelling.
Create opportunities for reflection among parents, healthcare professionals and communities.
Encourage dialogue around informed choice, respectful maternity care and reproductive autonomy.
Explore how creative practice can contribute to healing, education and social change.
Celebrate the diversity, complexity and humanity of women's experiences.
Let's Talk About Birth
Let's Talk About Birth is the public engagement platform developed as part of Gathering Voices.
Through interviews, podcasts, written narratives, voice recordings and community conversations, it creates space for honest dialogue about pregnancy, birth, motherhood and identity while sharing selected stories gathered through the wider project.
Together, Gathering Voices and Let's Talk About Birth seek to move beyond fear-based or purely clinical narratives, recognising birth as an experience that is physiological, emotional, relational, cultural and deeply personal.
Looking Forward
Gathering Voices is being developed as an evolving interdisciplinary project with ambitions to collaborate across the arts, healthcare, research and community sectors.
Future work may include exhibitions, publications, oral history collections, podcasts, creative writing, installations, educational resources and participatory arts projects that continue to centre women's voices and lived experiences.
The long-term vision is to create a trusted and enduring archive where stories are not simply collected, but become catalysts for learning, connection and meaningful cultural change.
Get Involved
Gathering Voices is an evolving project shaped by collaboration, curiosity and the belief that every woman's story has value.
I welcome opportunities to connect with artists, writers, researchers, museums, universities, healthcare organisations, community groups and individuals who share a commitment to listening deeply, preserving lived experience and exploring the power of storytelling to create understanding and change.
Whether you would like to share your story, collaborate on a creative project, explore a research partnership or simply start a conversation, I would love to hear from you.
Together, we can build a living archive that honours women's voices, preserves collective wisdom and inspires more compassionate conversations about birth, motherhood and the experiences that shape our lives.
If you would like to collaborate or find out more about Gathering Voices, please get in touch.