Art / Photography
70 Bristol mums strip off for new exhibition
More than 70 Bristol mums have stripped off in a celebration of post-baby bodies.
A Mother Beautiful is an exhibition by Emma Rigarlsford. The 31-year-old photographer had the idea after feeling increasingly unhappy with her body when she was pregnant with her daughter Autumn, now two.
“I spent half of my pregnancy telling my husband, Mark, that my body was ruined and would never go back to the way it was,” Emma says.
is needed now More than ever
“I was very down about it, and it distracted me from looking forward to having a baby.
“Those feelings disappeared when I gave birth, because I was overwhelmed by the feelings I had for my baby. But I felt angry that I’d wasted so much time worrying about my body.”
After returning to work as a family photographer at her Emma Eirene Photography studio in Bristol, Emma began to notice other new mothers feeling embarrassed about their bodies.
“Often the mums don’t want to be in the photos with their children, because they don’t feel confident about how they look,” she says.
Emma fell pregnant again with her now 9-year-old son Alfie and found the feelings of ugliness start to creep back. This spurred her on to start photographing pregnant women – to show that they were beautiful.
Through flyers and social media, Emma found over 70 Bristol women willing to participate and she took over 3000 photos. The final exhibition features 27 of those women, including Emma herself.
More of the photos can be seen in her accompanying book A Mother Beautiful: Your Children Are The Artwork But Your Body Is The Canvas, along with the personal stories of each of the women.
A Mother Beautiful is on show at Christmas Steps Gallery until Saturday 26 July.
