This was recommended as further reading from my tutor. It was an interesting read as being a mother and a photographer, I hadn’t realised how many people have different opinions in birth photography. I didn’t think it was a taboo subject, I just thought some people like it and for others it wasn’t for them.
A year after giving birth for the first time, writer, Charlotte Jenson, thinks about the taboo subject of childbirth as art. A lot of the images around when she was pregnant was Maternity Photoshoots, consisting of posed, heavily pregnant women. Then a scene is skipped (the birth room) and images of new born babies and women breastfeeding are emerged.
Having images of pre and post birth, made Charlotte Jenson feel the birth itself is taboo. She asks the question, is childbirth palatable? She believes there is something deeper going on, on a social and cultural level. Jenson answers the questions with “of course it isn’t”. Although childbirth is rather graphic does not mean it can’t be beautiful either. I agree!
Bibliography
https://elephant.art/childbirth-ultimate-taboo-contemporary-art/ [Accessed 23/05/20]
Amianne Riggott OCA Blog 