Laura Wood - Self-Portraits of Motherhood

from RPS The Decisive Moment - Edition 15 - March 2019

by Documentary Group, Royal Photographic Society

Valerie Mather LRPS - Children of Cuba

When I started taking self-portraits my goal was a simple one; to make sure that my children knew I was present, and that I loved them through good days, bad days and all the days in-between.

What I didn’t anticipate was how much self-portraiture would teach me about myself and photography. This project has taught me to see myself with the same kind eyes with which my children see me. The way in which my appearance has changed since having children is quite obvious and sometimes easy to dislike, but when I see these changes in images, I see them as art rather than flaws. The stretch marks have become silvery lines which catch the light beautifully, my rounder body has become a comfortable place for my children to rest their heads, the dark circles beneath my eyes have become the medals of motherhood.

I see so much of my own mother and grandmothers in some of my images. It has taught me that treasured old photographs aren’t timeless because of the clothes or the decor. It is the ways in which people live and love within the photographs that makes them so. While many things change through time, the role of mother is essentially the same at its heart.

My self-portrait series has allowed me to connect with mothers living all over the world and to find common ground even though our lives may be very different. Selfportraiture has taught me to see beauty in the everyday, and to realise that our story is uniquely ours and, while I still have a lot to learn in my photography, I believe that nobody has the power to tell my story better than I can through images - in this way, self-portraiture has become incredibly valuable for my growth as a photographer and for finding my voice.

www.laurawoodphotography.com