(Mis)Conceptions

A Fertility Conversations Card Deck

'It might seem to some that I speak about shameful matters, I ask for your forgiveness and that you please keep in mind that I only speak of these topics so that honorable and glorious ends may be reached'

~Michele Savonarola, A Mother’s Manual for the Woman of Ferrara (c. 1460) trans. Gabriella Zuccolin and Martin Marafioti (2022).

Project

(Mis)Conceptions: A Cultural History of Pregnancy Indeterminacy was an AHRC-funded research project that explored the cultural history of fertility health and especially pregnancy ambiguity that ran between September 2023-February 2025.

A significant public engagment element developed a deck of conversation cards on fertility health - Fertility Fortunes - which is now available as a free print-at-home resource.

This card deck uses the western tarot as a structuring device. The cards are prompts for reflection, journalling or conversation. They are for individuals, couples or people in support settings.

Project team

Principal Investigator - Isabel Davis

Isabel is a senior academic with expertise in the field of reproductive history. She leads the Collections and Culture research theme at the Natural History Museum, London. She is the author of a book, Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy, Past and Present (MIT Press, 2025).

Visual Artist - Anna Burel

Anna is an experienced visual artist with interests in women’s history, including in medical experience. She has been collaborating with Isabel Davis since 2015 and is the illustrator of Conceiving Histories.

Public Engagement Officer - Anya Gleizer

Anya is a researcher in human geography and a performance artist. She directs the Art, Biodiversity and Climate research network at the University of Oxford, and her interests, both artistic and scientific lie in cultural responses to ecological crisis. Community mobilisation and engagement rest at the core of her artistic practice.