On the Day We Were Born

On the day you were born, so was I. We were both new, to each other, and to ourselves.'

On the day a child is born, so is a mother.

Just like her new baby, she needs compassion and nurturing to grow and thrive.

This book is a gift to her.

While new motherhood is often portrayed as a time of great joy, it can also be a time of great uncertainty. Becoming a mother is a beautifully complex journey and this book acts as a gentle companion along the way. Intended for a mother to read to her baby, it fosters a moment of connection between them while providing important messages to both.

Written by perinatal psychologist Kirsty Bowness and illustrated by psychologist and artist Helen Fraser, the words and images are intentionally rich with perinatal mental health themes to support new mothers.

Available via Amazon worldwide.

Purchase from Amazon AU

The transition into motherhood is one of the most profound psychological ruptures and re-orientations a human can experience.

My recent work illustrating On the Day We Were Born (with author Kirsty Bowness) allowed me to apply my clinical background in psychoanalytic psychotherapy to the visual representation of this life-changing journey. Just as my art practice seeks to 'suture' historical ruptures, this project seeks to hold the space for the emotional complexity of new beginnings.

This work sits alongside my broader research into relational trauma and the power of the creative process to navigate life's transitions. It is a privilege to contribute to a resource that supports mothers in such a critical, formative moment.

Credit: Book Design by Sophie White Design

Upcoming Craftivism Book Release

Yumi Olgeta: Crafting a More Inclusive Democracy;

Rewriting Australia's Narrative through Cross-Cultural Craftivism

Forthcoming from RIT Press (Rochester Institute of Technology)

Spanning fifteen thematic inquiries, Yumi Olgeta: Crafting a More Inclusive Democracy - Rewriting Australia's Narrative through Cross Cultural Craftivism maps the evolution of handmaking as a potent political instrument. This forthcoming publication serves as both a historical archive and a contemporary methodology, documenting how the slow, tactile labour of the domestic sphere—from embroidery and quilting to collective textile production—is repurposed to challenge systemic power.

Through an exploration of the "suture" as a metaphor for social repair, the book examines the intersection of community-led labour in the ongoing cross-cultural collaboration titled Yumi Olgeta: Crafting a More Inclusive Democracy Cultural Exchange Quilt Project, institutional critique, and the reclamation of public space. This collaboration began via Helen's research-led practice culminating in an initial workshop with the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, Canberra where powerful truths were shared by the Australian South Sea Islander and Ni-Vanuatu commuties.

Co-authored by white Australian artist Helen Fraser with Waskam Emelda Davis and the Australian South Sea Islander community, the work translates the quiet, repetitive gestures of the maker into a visual language of radical transparency and truth-telling supported by decolonisation and anti-racist, craftivist and psychanalytic theories. By bridging the gap between the private act of stitching and the public act of protest, Yumi Olgeta: Crafting a More Inclusive Democracy - Rewriting Australia's Narrative through Cross Cultural Craftivism offers a rigorous framework for understanding how craft functions as an essential, enduring, and deeply relational form of activism.

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