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Modern Family: Reimagining the Domestic Ideal

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Rethink traditional structures of raising children with a conversation about breaking the mould and redefining what it means to be a family and a parent. 

About

We’ve been moving away from the nuclear family for years now  – where have we landed? In 2023, there are myriad ways to become a parent, to be a parent, and to be a part of a family.

In a panel event for the Wheeler Centre’s M/OTHER series, editor Bridget Caldwell-Bright ,writer Alexandra Collier, performance artist Casey Jenkins and human rights advocate Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts discuss what it means to create contemporary families that consider the shifting needs of both children and parents. They’ll share their experiences of raising children in ways that defy and redefine traditional family boundaries and structures, and speak to the need for a broader understanding of what families and parenting looks like.

From single parenthood and queer motherhood to kinship care and the importance of maintaining maternal autonomy, Caldwell-Bright, Collier, Jenkins and Turnbull-Roberts, join host, ABC Radio journalist Hilary Harper, to unpack some of the complexities involved in challenging the familial status quo.

 


 

Conversations in M/OTHER may include references to topics such as mental health, reproductive rights, and childbirth. If you need assistance with any of these issues, you can learn more and seek advice via the Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE)Perintal Anxiety & Depression Australia (PANDA) and Beyond Blue.

Accessibility

Wheelchair accessible

Accessible toilets available

Please notify us of all access requirements when booking online so we can assist you with your visit. If you require further information, please contact reception on 03 9094 7800 or ticketing@wheelercentre.com.

Official Bookseller

The official bookseller for M/OTHER is Neighbourhood Books.

About M/Other

M/OTHER is a weekend of fearless conversation about the ways ‘motherhood’ is experienced, portrayed and labelled by those who mother, have been mothered, wish they were mothers, do not identify as mothers, cannot or do not want to mother, and by society at-large.

 

M/OTHER

Featuring

Bridget Caldwell-Bright

Bridget Caldwell-Bright is a Jingili and Mudburra editor based in Melbourne. She is currently working as an editorial policies advisor at the ABC. She was previously co-editor for weekly news digest SUBTEXT(E), co-editor for Archer Magazine’s First Nations Edition and managing editor for Blak Brow... Read more

Alexandra Collier

Alexandra Collier is the author of a new memoir about becoming a solo mother by choice, Inconceivable: Heartbreak, Bad Dates and Finding Solo Motherhood. She is an award-winning writer who has written for theatre, screen and print. Her writing has appeared in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and T... Read more

Casey Jenkins

Casey Jenkins is a queer solo parent by choice to two children and a performance/installation/community artist exploring intimacy, identity and the interplay between modes of power (individual and institutional, perceived and concrete) particularly pertaining to gender. Works range from meditative t... Read more

Hilary Harper

Hilary Harper has a degree in English Literature and Cultural Studies, a Graduate Diploma in Professional Writing and Editing, and 30 years’ experience in radio. She’s been at the ABC since 2005. She’s covered everything from news and current affairs to traffic reporting, arts, health, gardeni... Read more

Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts

Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts is a proud Bundjalung Widubul-Wiabul Woman who is an advocate for Human Rights, Indigenous people’s rights, and children and young people. As a survivor she speaks from a place of truth. Vanessa is an advocate for Human Rights, storyteller, writer and has completed a Bache... Read more

Location

The Wheeler Centre

176 Little Lonsdale Street Melbourne Victoria 3000

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The Wheeler Centre acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Centre stands. We acknowledge and pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their Elders, past and present, as the custodians of the world’s oldest continuous living culture.