It’s Fred (@iffbiro & @fredashleighthornton)
My friend Genie has started calling me ‘Nanafred’. Mainly because I like knitting, birds and napping. We were talking about whether we wanted to have children one day and as someone with a butt tonne of younger siblings I feel I have spent enough time looking after kids, but I do still think kids are great. She then said I could be ‘Nanafred’ to her kids when she has them. Which works out great for me because we can bake and do crafts and stuff, but then I can give the kids back at the end of the day. I have known that I didn’t want kids since I was 13, but also have been kind of conflicted about it because I love kids and want a family. I found out a few years ago that I may not be able to ever conceive children of my own which made me confront those feelings again. I was already pretty resolved that if I were to have kids, I would adopt but learning about my biology forced me to think about what I actually wanted in a family. And being ‘Nanafred’ is exactly it. Kids are great but bloody exhausting; I have things I want to pass on to children and teach them but also, I like having my own space. After reading ‘Pleasure Activism by @adriennemareebrown I was also introduced to families that operate outside of the cis/het norm and are full of love and support for each other and made me realise that I can have that for myself too. It takes more than two parents to raise a child and I am more than happy to be ‘Nanafred’ to my friend’s kids.
ARTICLE 16 is a new video art piece by Asten Holmes-Elliott exhibiting @johnhansardgallery, @aspacearts The Alfred Arcade, and The Spark Building @solentuniversity, until 19th June.