The Shape of a Mother

My current project explores motherhood from a physical perspective: the shape of a mother, her body, the physical manifestations that pregnancy and postpartum leave on her body.

The female human body undergoes many physical changes over time beginning at the onset of puberty and undergoes the most transformation during pregnancy and childbirth. Often, adapting to a new body shape and body image is difficult for many women. I am interested in exploring those parts of the body which show these physical changes that occur to the abdomen, breasts, buttocks, legs, and arms, for example.

I’ve always been interested in female nude photography and consider black and white nudes to be one of my favorite fine art genres. However many of the nudes that are photographed tend to be young, thin, toned women. Beautiful as they are, I feel that there is more to a beautiful female nude than just a perfectly shaped body. Being a mother myself, I decided to photograph the various shapes of a mother, illustrating beauty in all shapes, sizes, and colors. This is an ongoing project, as I would like to recruit more models of various ethnicities. I have found that photographing mothers bodies in a natural setting with natural light emphasizes the fact that not only are they beautiful works of art themselves but are among the Earth’s beautiful shapes and sizes. jennifermking.com