The Black and Native Bonding Project
In 2019, the CDC released a report, saying that Black, Native, and Alaskan Native women are 2-3 times more likely than their white counterparts to die in childbirth or the year following before age 30, and 4-5 more likely after the age of 30.
I was stunned. I hadn't heard about these discrepancies before. The CDC itself said that it was because of systemic racism. Providers and hospitals were set up to see Black and Native women as less valuable, and the women felt and feel that. No way around it.
I realized that I could use my work to help women feel seen. And to humanize the women to medical providers simply by showing that all women love their babies in the same deeply beautiful way. I created an ongoing series that I’ve been adding to for years now. I offer Black and Native women free sessions in my home studio. They get 60 minutes with me, and they get two free digital photographs from the session in exchange for their participation. And the series grows.
Since I started photographing for the series, I’ve had women’s clinics and birth centers request to hang the series in their spaces. This work hangs at the Denver Health Lowry Family Medicine Center, the UC Health Midwifery clinic in Aurora, and the Seasons Midwifery Birth Center in Thornton. One provider told me, “It’s really helping our Black OB patients feel seen and comfortable in our clinic.”
The purpose of the photographs is to give Black and Native women a feeling of belonging and comfort, and to be a steady, even-handed reminder to providers that Black and Native women are just as loving and bonded to their babies as anyone else. I feel so deeply proud of this series, and I always love adding to it. Please reach out if you would like to be part of the series!
I was stunned. I hadn't heard about these discrepancies before. The CDC itself said that it was because of systemic racism. Providers and hospitals were set up to see Black and Native women as less valuable, and the women felt and feel that. No way around it.
I realized that I could use my work to help women feel seen. And to humanize the women to medical providers simply by showing that all women love their babies in the same deeply beautiful way. I created an ongoing series that I’ve been adding to for years now. I offer Black and Native women free sessions in my home studio. They get 60 minutes with me, and they get two free digital photographs from the session in exchange for their participation. And the series grows.
Since I started photographing for the series, I’ve had women’s clinics and birth centers request to hang the series in their spaces. This work hangs at the Denver Health Lowry Family Medicine Center, the UC Health Midwifery clinic in Aurora, and the Seasons Midwifery Birth Center in Thornton. One provider told me, “It’s really helping our Black OB patients feel seen and comfortable in our clinic.”
The purpose of the photographs is to give Black and Native women a feeling of belonging and comfort, and to be a steady, even-handed reminder to providers that Black and Native women are just as loving and bonded to their babies as anyone else. I feel so deeply proud of this series, and I always love adding to it. Please reach out if you would like to be part of the series!
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