Cristina Gențiana Dumitrașcu
On Maternal Care, Collective Listening & Creating
Can we build human relationships through collective art? Can a developed program support, encourage and nurture a connection between mothers, negotiate ways of interacting, creating, and working together? How can art include a place for discussing about maternity as a participatory practice?
This research is situated within artistic research, feminist collective practice, and product design. As a Romanian architect, Montessori educator and mother I plan to build, in Brussels, Belgium, through close social interaction, repeated co-designing and making, positioning towards the participants, reaction, and repositioning, a space of encounter and support for mothers of all nationalities, with children with ages between 3-12 years old. Using collaborative and participatory work, I will build, using the input of the participants, a movable and adaptable wooden installation, accompanied by a self-built composition for children, created using Montessori principals. This installation will be further used by the mothers as a tool in their process of collective listening and creating.
The working title of the research is Şezătoarea (șezătoare, noun; plural: șezători, is derived out of the verb a ședea = to sit) which describes an old Romanian custom, defining a gathering of people, especially women, who came together on winter nights to engage in activities such as crocheting, weaving, storytelling, and singing.
Most social structures exclude children from the public dynamics and, therefore, mothers experience domestic isolation, accompanied by underpaid or unpaid care work. New mothers go through a long period of transition, while battling loneliness after childbirth and a decrease of the social relationships, that can lead to development of postnatal depression and other psychological issues.1 Validation, support from other mothers and the sense of belonging to a strong community are factors that can ameliorate the feeling of isolation.
For Șezătoarea M[ONTESSORI] {working title} I plan to use a data collection process (interviews and qualitative questionnaires with first mothers of all ages, nationalities, and residence and then mothers living in Belgium, with children with ages between 3-12 years), experimental testing of the concept, an online sharing space, a continuous diary, and Beta Tests, to observe if alterations are necessary. Ideally, the outcome of my research will be an installation, an online platform, and a publication. Currently, I am opening discussions with three spaces to host long term the collective installation, as well as our periodical meetings (L’escaut architects’ cooperative, Parckfarm and the NGO C.A.S.A. Brussels).
“Maternal conversations”, photographed in October 2025, in Bois de la Cambre, by Cristina Gențiana Dumitrașcu
1- Adlington, K., Vasquez, C., Pearce, E. et al. ‘Just snap out of it’ – the experience of loneliness in women with perinatal depression: a Meta-synthesis of qualitative studies. BMC Psychiatry 23, 110 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04532-2