A Sunday Times Magazine featured some of the most beautiful women I have ever seen and they were not in the style pages or the celebrity interview. It is London photographer Jenny Lewis‘ portraits of new mothers holding their infants during the first twenty-four hours of life. Lewis embarked on the project five years ago, when she leafleted her east London neighbourhood, Hackney, looking for expectant mothers to take part. Her subjects are all wildly different in terms of appearance, age and professions. Each are photographed at home holding their new babies.
Lewis explains:
“I wanted to tell a story about the strength and resilience of women post-childbirth that I feel goes largely unacknowledged in today’s world. To reassure women that childbirth is okay; yes it’s painful but it is a positive pain, one that has purpose and is just part of the journey, a rite of passage into motherhood.”
The common thread in many of the portraits is an incredible serenity that I’m pretty sure was completely absent from my own chaotic first 24 hours of motherhood. I remember a giddy sort of elation but I was also absolutely petrified and behaving quite strangely. At one point The Man had to restrain me when I tried to put mascara on ahead of visiting hours. “You’re being really mental” he said, little did he realise that this was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of new mother mental-ness he would be subjected to in the coming months.
Looking back now, I can acknowledge I was terrified because I was unprepared, and also afraid of what that fear might mean, believing that because I was afraid, I wasn’t bonding with my son. So the first day was scary and chaotic but I found serenity eventually on his second night. We were alone together in the hospital cubicle, he had just finished his first feed and was completely drunk on milk and I felt that first bit of wonder through the fear. I took a picture of him and sent it to everyone in the family, in-laws included, too awestruck to notice my nipple in the bottom right-hand corner of the pic. So serene.
Visit jennylewis.net for more on the beautiful One Day Young photos.
