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. 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 held on to that statistic for a while. I didn’t know what to do with it, but I thought about it all the time. I had given birth for the first time in 2016, and my birth was hugely traumatic. It took me the better part of a decade and my second birth to heal from it. And so, in the interim, I became kind of obsessed with births in general.
After my first birth, I started using maybe my greatest tool, my camera, to process my anxiety and fear of birth itself. I announced to a moms group online that if any of the members told me where their birth was happening, and invited me to show up, I would photograph them with their babies, bonding, right after the birth. And so I did. I showed up. I photographed. It was remarkably helpful for me. It gave me a context and a purpose to be in and around other women processing their births. I did this about 40 times. It was cathartic and emotional and buoying. And women told me that the photographs I made for them impacted them. Showed them something beautiful about their births and their babies and their families and themselves.
I realized that I could use the power of my work for more good. The photographs are a powerful representation of how deeply relatable and deeply human it is to love our babies. So 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, just like anyone else, and they get two free digital photographs from the session, too. 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. 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 held on to that statistic for a while. I didn’t know what to do with it, but I thought about it all the time. I had given birth for the first time in 2016, and my birth was hugely traumatic. It took me the better part of a decade and my second birth to heal from it. And so, in the interim, I became kind of obsessed with births in general.
After my first birth, I started using maybe my greatest tool, my camera, to process my anxiety and fear of birth itself. I announced to a moms group online that if any of the members told me where their birth was happening, and invited me to show up, I would photograph them with their babies, bonding, right after the birth. And so I did. I showed up. I photographed. It was remarkably helpful for me. It gave me a context and a purpose to be in and around other women processing their births. I did this about 40 times. It was cathartic and emotional and buoying. And women told me that the photographs I made for them impacted them. Showed them something beautiful about their births and their babies and their families and themselves.
I realized that I could use the power of my work for more good. The photographs are a powerful representation of how deeply relatable and deeply human it is to love our babies. So 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, just like anyone else, and they get two free digital photographs from the session, too. 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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