I’m a life

A COLLABORATION BETWEEN;

​ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE, LA BATARDE & ISOBEL ANDERSON

I’m A Life was an exciting collaboration straddling music, social media and merchandise. Isobel approached Emma about collaborating on a video, aa crowdfunder and some companion merchandising for Alliance for Choice. We spent a couple of months, meeting ocassionally and connecting online to plan a sociaal media campaign and a launch event, as well as the filming of the video. All the merchandise sold out within a week! Below is Isobel’s story about the project:

In November 2018, musician Isobel Anderson is teamed up with Alliance For Choice to make a music video for her song _4284_ (I’m A Life). The song uses words taken verbatim from Janet Ní Shuilleabháin's real account of travelling to England for an abortion. Janet revealed that when she first heard the song:

I cried. The opening line had me catch my breath, and the next thing I knew I was crying. They were complex tears, of surprise, tinged with sadness & then of joy.

Isobel describes why she felt compelled to write about the abuse of reproductive rights in Northern Ireland since she had moved to Belfast in 2009, but found it difficult to know exactly how without misrepresenting people’s lived experience of the issue.  The video has been filmed and directed by Wild Stag Studio’s Dave Neale, and features women who support Alliance For Choice amongst the backdrop of Belfast and Northern Ireland.​

I’m A Life contributes to the ever growing demand for women’s reproductive rights in Northern Ireland and, as the song states, “an end to silence and shame”.