Lifestyle

Life After Birth: touching photo series shows the magical yet raw reality of the postpartum experience


Women’s underwear brand Knix has teamed up with Carriage House Birth and the Empowered Birth Project, to create a powerful photo exhibition depicting the magical yet raw reality of the postpartum experience, called the Life After Birth Project.

Over 250 postpartum women have shared their photos and stories for the powerful series, which includes images of new mothers immediately following birth as well as showcasing them breastfeeding and their healing scars, commonly known as “the fourth trimester”.

In a survey, Knix which is known for its leak-proof underwear, found that over 56 per cent of women experience postpartum depression, 76 per cent of women feel pressure to “bounce back” post birth and 90 per cent of postpartum women said they had received comments about their bodies post birth.

Knix founder and CEO Joanna Griffiths, who became a new mother in April, was inspired to create the project after feeling frustrated with the images and messages of diets and workout tips that were dominating her social feeds just days after becoming postpartum. She says she wanted to share a new message: “You are perfect as you, you are supported, and you are seen.”

The project aims to empower women going through this process and encourages conversation about it, which is so often hidden behind closed doors, leaving new mothers feeling isolated.

The collection features this image below, it’s captioned:

“I’ve suffered from Crohn’s disease and therefore have an ileostomy. I was told I would probably never have children because of this. Since then I’ve had two babies! And sadly one miscarriage. These scars define my journey of nearly dying, and also gaining two lives.” – Ginger Newman

The Life After Birth Project

The exhibition is now touring across the US.

Click through the gallery above for more touching images of the postpartum mothers in this series.





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