MOTHERS I'D LIKE TO PHOTOGRAPH
Hearing one of my students calling me out as a MILF during class got me thinking. Is there still such a thing as life (and lust) during/after Motherhood? How much remains of the selfish, sexual ego? Do I still feel confident about the shape my body is in? Does the so-called Mother I'd Like To F##k really exist beyond the porn cliche? And if she does? Would I want to be one? Could I still be one?
Instead of wallowing in the uncertainty that these kind of (s)existential questions brought up I put on my Dirty Boots - well actually they were pumps - and dove headfirst into this project of "postnatal expression".
Over a period of two years I shot mothers to which I have some kind of close bond. Whether the model was family, close friend or professional liaison the project became an emotional journey during which some of the mothers rediscovered parts of themselves thought long lost in some dusty drawer. Each portrait became a beautiful and intimate story, and the reassuring and persuading of each single MILPH a personal victory.
The resulting photographs and exhibition became a document to a mother that is beautiful, sexy, confident and perhaps even more in touch with her sexuality and in tune with her body than before pregnancy.
No wrinkle, crease, bump, scar, wart or hair in the pictures has been retouched. None of the mothers are professionals models but range from a diverse entourage of stylists, accounts, designers, hairdressers and (sometimes desperate) housewives. Renowned jewelry designer Karin Nuñez de Fleurquin and actress Lotte Pinoy also leant there derrière to the project.