Exercises in Control: Chapter I – An End and a Beginning

A photographic examination of female infertility, abortion, and reproductive agency.

My current work confronts personal and cultural stigmas associated with female infertility, shares experiences with Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART), and highlights the prevalence of women and couples seeking these desperately needed healthcare services. This complex narrative is told through the lens of my own struggles with miscarriage, abortions, in vitro fertilization cycles, and eventual egg adoption which led to the birth of my daughter.

I have made repeated photographs of self-administered and partner administered injections, repurposed microscopic and ultrasound imagery of my body, and used historical photographic processes to reflect on broader issues associated with power, agency, and control.

Over a quarter of all pregnancies end in miscarriage (1), yet, public discussion of this common statistical outcome, and its physical and psychological effects on families, remains relatively taboo. Women must confront the tragedies of their uncooperative bodies while struggling to digest a grief that has no real visibility in broader Western culture. 

With my photographs I am trying to make space for the hundreds of thousands of people who seek care for infertility every year in the United States alone. Simultaneously, I am underscoring the fundamental right for people to decide how and when they will begin to build their families.

1.    National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532992/

Please see my website for further work examples.

https://www.rachelcoxphotography.com/11517901-works-in-progress#19