An exhibition of images celebrating breastfeeding has proven so popular that the photographer who created them is already taking orders for a book due to be released in November.
In Breastfeeding Goddesses, Ivette Ivens sought to make her subjects look ‘pure, beautiful, saintly and celestial’ as they went about their normal feeding routine in various outdoor settings.
While the heavily styled images have provoked their fair share of criticism and the photographer accepts that breastfeeding ‘can be messy, uncomfortable, and even painful at times,’ she says her aim was to capture ‘the real beauty’ in it.
The shots were originally part of a show entitled ‘I breastfed my toddler: Art that explores the beauty of extended nursing’.
Ivens, a mother of two, told the Huffington Post:
“Every time I nurse my baby with my burp-spotted shirt on and messy hair, I still feel like some kind of superhero, and nursing is my super power. I want people to look at it as if it was a cat nursing her baby kittens. Or any other mammal, if you’re not a cat person.”
She had this advice for Mums who are getting to grips with feeding in public:
“Forget the covering up, nursing in a public bathroom, age restrictions. It’s between a mother and her child. I nursed them both anywhere I wanted. From church to parties, from farmers market to high-end designer stores. I believe that mothers should nurse their little ones whenever they want to. Children know when it’s time to wean off. Mothers do too. Strangers don’t know, so they shouldn’t care. “
To see more of Ivette Ivens’ beautiful work, visit her website. The book Breastfeeding Goddesses is available on pre-order here.
