The Body Is Not A Thing

This photographic essay looks to celebrate a layered experience of womanhood inclusive of motherhood, sexuality, body autonomy, ageing and everything in between. At the start of 2020, I began a dialogue with a close friend and collaborator, creative director and producer Annabel Crook, about our experiences as makers and mothers. At this time, with schools closed, we were both at home watching our daughters while our partners worked. In the subsequent two years, we have maintained constant communication about this project, this has been weekly discussions of feminist theory, comparing the work of female authors, recounting the stories shared by our mothers, friends and peers, and importantly extensive image research on the subjects of motherhood, sexuality, and ageing. What we learned was that within the space of photography layered depictions of the female experience are rare and niche. Our research raised the question is it possible to portray these nuances within a single body of work?

After two years of pre-production, we scheduled to document the first fifteen women over the course of five days. We decided to focus our project on Los Angeles, where Annabel lives, for the diversity of the women, non-binary, and intersexes who were excited to participate in this work. The making of these images is incredibly personal, as we are invited into the homes and intimate lives of our subjects. It is important to comment on the context in which these images are being made, the instability of women’s rights, the lack of social services to support mothers and families, the attacks on the LGBTQIA communities, and the American culture wars seeking to ban contraception and abortion. At the core of our work is the desire to create images which reach a popular audience, and demonstrate female autonomy over the female form. We are looking to start a dialogue about our individual and shared experiences, but also to appreciate in a simple way the beauty in our lives.