PROJECT: MIXED-SEX CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS AND SOCIAL CHANGE - RESEARCH PROJECT
CLIENT: DR NIKKI HAYFIELD & DR JULIA CARTER, UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND

A research project into ‘Mixed-sex civil partnership and social change led by Dr Nikki Hayfield (Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology) and Dr Julia Carter (Senior Lecturer in Sociology) at UWE, and specifically as part of the research group Identities, Subjectivities and Inequalities, in partnership with The Diversity Trust, Equal Civil Partnerships Campaign and Compassion in Politics

OBJECTIVE

To visually represent some of the findings from the research project on mixed-sex civil partnerships, in a way which is accessible and understandable to a general public audience. The project findings are to be shared with relevant individuals and organisations such as Register Offices, Citizens Advice Bureaus and other community hubs - it’s important that the illustrations are engaging and ‘fun’ but also able to communicate serious ideas.

The research findings were broken down into 3 illustrated 'stories' which collated together the responses received to questions such as: What is a mixed-sex civil partnership? What do mixed-sex civil partnerships look like? and Why do people have mixed-sex civil partnerships?

From the outset the client expressed a preference for not featuring people in the illustrations, and for the images to be colourful.

In developing the illustrations I tried to find analogies for the various ideas I was asked to portray, often incorporating everyday and household items. I particularly enjoyed coming up with different types of baggage for the marriage and weddings illustration!

There is a play on stereotypes throughout the set of illustrations, and this follows through to the colour palette - with certain colours being used to help define more traditional gender roles.

The illustrations will accompany the publication of findings from this research study, in print and presentations as well as on the UWE and partner organisation websites.


CLIENT FEEDBACK

“We conducted research to explore the perspectives and practices of those who were considering, planning, or, had already registered, a mixed sex civil partnership. We were keen to share some of our key findings in a way that brought them to life and felt that artwork would be the perfect fit. As researchers, we are used to writing and working with text but less familiar with images. Carys was really supportive in helping us to understand how we could translate our findings into artwork. She guided us throughout the process and provided lots of support as well as asking for our input and feedback at each stage as she worked with our findings to produce the artwork. We are very happy with the end result and think the images communicate our findings in a way that is fun and engaging.”

- Dr Nikki Hayfield and Dr Julia Carter
Mixed-sex Civil Partnerships and Social Change Research Project, UWE

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