MonoVisions Photography Awards - International Black and White Photo Contest

HONORABLE MENTION

Photo © Arren Mills

TITLE: Births during a Global Pandemic

This project will be a series of parents’ first interactions between them and their newborns during a global pandemic. I documented home births for families of color, particularly Black families, in an effort to share more birth stories around the Black birth experience. Black mothers as well as Black infants have a disproportionately higher risk of dying from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes due to racism in the healthcare system. Black families are bombarded with these statistics and instead of celebrating birth a huge transition, sometimes it can be a big fear or anxiety. I want to reassure and empower Black families by documenting home births and sharing that births can be a celebration, along with other feelings that are natural: fear, anxiousness, calmness, and wholeness. Especially since Florida is the epicenter of COVID and the controversy around families choosing home births over their hospital births to lessen chances of contracting coronavirus.

I will continue to shoot in Jacksonville, Florida, and still want to offer free sessions to Black families (particularly with Black mothers). Due to COVID-19, I have not been able to get into hospitals, so I will aim to shoot home births which, according to statistics, most Black mothers do not have access to understanding they can choose to have a homebirth.

AUTHOR: Arren Mills UNITED STATES

A creative activist with a love for the divine feminine during birth and the birth of self.

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