University of Birmingham researchers are working with organisations in Nigeria to improve maternal health and wellbeing.
University of Birmingham researchers are working with women and women’s rights organisations in Nigeria to improve maternal health and wellbeing – using art to kickstart conversations to create new, culturally rooted approaches to healthcare.
Beyond the Fattening Room is a four‑year research and public engagement project that unites art, lived experience and international collaboration to deepen understanding of women’s health, wellbeing, and cultural heritage in Nigeria’s Cross River region.
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the initiative will take place across the UK and Nigeria, generating new conversations on motherhood and girlhood.
Five wooden figures depicting maidens on their ceremonial emergence from the ‘fattening room’ are at the centre of the research project and will be used as catalysts for conversations with women in Calabar, south‑eastern Nigeria.
Working closely with communities in Calabar, we’ll collect women’s stories to shed light on how contemporary pressures—from healthcare access to shifting cultural norms—shape their experiences.
Dr Juliet Gilbert is working with Calabar-based collaborator Emilia Okon on the Beyond the Fattening Room project. (L-R) Emilia Okon, Professor Nick Vaughan-Williams and Dr Juliet Gilbert
Historically, in the Cross River region, ‘fattening rooms’ served as spaces of seclusion and transformation for pubescent girls preparing for marriage and motherhood. Under the guidance of older women, girls would learn arts such as body painting and dance while undergoing rituals that emphasised beauty and social maturity. Though largely discontinued today, the symbolism of the ‘fattening room maiden’ remains powerful in cultural memory.
The wooden figures, part of the University of Birmingham’s African Collection, were crafted in the 1970s by expert carvers in Cross River State and later donated to the University by British art historian Jill Salmons.
Opening dialogue on women’s livelihoods, and ‘speaking back’ to the iconic image of the ‘fattening room’ maiden, local women artists in Calabar will collaborate with women contributing their experiences to the project to create alternate representations of Nigerian femininity.
Project leader Dr Juliet Gilbert is working with Calabar-based collaborator Emilia Okon, an experienced development practitioner and women’s health rights advocate with extensive experience in strengthening maternal health, sexual and reproductive health rights, and safeguarding across communities and health systems in southeast Nigeria.
Three of the wooden figures depicting maidens on their ceremonial emergence from the ‘fattening room’.
Speaking after an event in Lagos to launch the project today, Dr Gilbert said: “We aim to understand how ideals of womanhood have changed over time and what these shifts mean for women navigating adolescence, motherhood, and modern expectations.
"Working closely with communities in Calabar, we’ll collect women’s stories to shed light on how contemporary pressures—from healthcare access to shifting cultural norms—shape their experiences. Our findings will support local debates around maternal care, and we’ll share them with women’s health organisations in the region.”
The project will host two workshops in Calabar to address urgent issues related to maternal healthcare. The workshops will bring together women of different generations, local NGOs, and policymakers. Participants will discuss their experiences with perinatal care and explore new, culturally rooted approaches to wellbeing – leading to a guidance brief for healthcare advocates working in Cross River State.
his important research will contribute to major international conversations about the future of museum collections. It will offer a practical case study for how UK‑based African art collections can more deeply connect with the communities from which their objects originate.
Beyond the Fattening Room will also test best practice for African art collections in the UK, introducing an important new dimension into recent decolonial debates within museum studies. As the project brings together museum collection management with social research, it will present a case study for evaluating how care of an African art collection requires engaging objects in social life.
Clare Mullett, Head of University Collections, said: “This important research will contribute to major international conversations about the future of museum collections. It will offer a practical case study for how UK‑based African art collections can more deeply connect with the communities from which their objects originate.
“The project’s artworks will feature prominently in three public exhibitions across Birmingham and Calabar playing an important role as conversation starters that bridge time and inspire debate.”
The project will culminate in a Birmingham‑based symposium, convening museum professionals, academics, and artists to explore best practice for using African art objects in socially transformative research.
The University of Birmingham has loaned several objects from its African Collection to the Tate Modern, in London, for the Nigerian Modernism exhibition running until May this year.
For more information, please contact the press office on +44 (0) 121 414 2772 or pressoffice@contacts.bham.ac.uk
Associate Professor in Social Anthropology and African Studies
Biographical and contact information for Dr Juliet Gilbert, Associate Professor in Social Anthropology and African Studies, at the University of Birmingham.
