Reproductive Media, 2019-Ongoing
We (Cayla Skillin-Brauchle and Danielle C. Wyckoff) have come together to birth Reproductive Media, a project that focuses on all things family, gender, sex, and reproduction. Iterations of Reproductive Media have included a Mobile Zine Library and performative actions and workshops in which we facilitate discussions on these themes. The Reproductive Media Zine Library’s collection includes dozens of contributors who have produced zines related to these topics, ranging from personal experiences to statistics and facts. Our curatorial vision for this library is inclusive: we encourage individuals to share diverse information, experiences, and interpretations. This collection is an ongoing and ever-growing library.
Part of Reproductive Media’s larger mission is to provide educational and advocacy materials and support. Current resources we have produced as free booklets include ways to advocate for family-friendly* workplaces, suggestions for creating more inclusive educational settings, and other tools to advocate for legislative change such as ones that would support families for medical leave. (*We recognize an inclusive definition of family and remember that people receive love and support from partners, elders, children, siblings, lovers, pets, friends, and more.)
We believe that critical discussions require space. Reproductive Media creates such a space, one that is a public yet private forum, to talk about all things family, sex, gender, and reproduction: the choice to parent or not; the experiences of non-binary lives; governmental policy that is restrictive and policy that is protective; the challenges and rewards of parenting; experiences of becoming a parent through adoption, foster care, birth, or other paths; LBGQTIA+ rights; infertility and the emotional, physical and financial implications; miscarriage and fetal loss; birth control; abortion; models of prenatal care and giving birth (medical model and midwifery model); reproductive rights; reproductive privilege based on identity and socio-economics; sex; babies; gender; consent.
Since 2019 we have held listening sessions, conducting workshops, created advocacy materials, and made artwork with the mission of curbing sexism in Art and Education spaces.
In 2021 we were awarded a Steelcase Innovation Fellowship as part of their Equity in Education Challenge.
In 2023 we were awarded a residency at Directangle Press. There we produced a rotting log is nutrient rich. This project was a four-poster installation of risograph and letterpress prints that used language and imagery of weeds as a visual representation of generosity, abundance, and persistence. The selected plants were chosen for their abilities to remediate, to nourish and heal, and to grow out of muck. This installation was conceived as a kind of ‘garden’ for institutional windows to cross-pollinate with those doing the often invisible work of care within institutions. Through an open call, this project was displayed in 22 K-12 schools, colleges, public libraries and art centers in 14 states over a 9 month period in 2023-2024.
We routinely speak to class, give workshops, and tour our zine library! Please visit Reproductive Media to participate or seek resources.
