Photographer Jenny Lewis launches One Day Young project
Images from Jenny Lewis’ One Day Young project. Photographs: Jenny Lewis
A Hackney photographer is turning her lens from celebrities to the borough’s mothers.
Jenny Lewis, 39, of Queensbridge Road has shot portraits of the likes of comedian Tim Minchin, physicist Brian Cox and actress Keira Knightley but her latest project, One Day Young, sees her snapping mums and their babies within 24 hours of the birth and in their own homes.
Lewis, a mother of two, said: “I wanted to capture the first day of full-on miracle emotions.
“There is a crazy chemical high when you walk in the room, the mothers are like they are on opium they are so open and blown away by the experience.”
All of the subjects involved are total strangers to Lewis. They were found by leafleting in chip shops, cafes and parks.
“Motherhood really brings people together, it doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got, or what your job is, you’ve just done this amazing thing so everyone feels joyous and proud,” Lewis said.Lewis wants this project to portray a positive and calm image of childbirth.
She said: “The only thing people have seen on birth is sensationalised TV like One Born Every Minute which is full of a lot of pain, a lot of drama.
“But every home which I’ve gone to there is just utter calm, there isn’t this kind of highly dramatised madness and chaos.”
Rather than exhibiting the project in a gallery, Lewis’ wants to showcase the pictures in a public space in Hackney.
She said: “Ideally I’d have it down the corridor in the maternity ward so that for the nine months that you are going in for blood tests and scans, you’ve got a corridor of positive faces.”
Lewis is seeking more subjects and is inviting any mothers-to-be to email jenny@jennylewis.net with their addresses and due dates.
My wife and I just had our first child (a son) two weeks ago. That said, I am growing weary of the cult of babies and parents. We get it – you have a child. It’s been happening since time immemorial. Having a child doesn’t make you special or important – and no one really cares about your child other than you (and perhaps your close friends or relations).
Congratulations Adam on the birth of your son. I agree with you that the “cult of babies” and parenthood is pretty strong these days but what I liked about this project is how it celebrates childbirth, which, when you think about it it still a pretty amazing and magical thing. And I also agree with you that having a child doesn’t make anyone special or important, but I do think that every child is special and important because a new baby is the ultimate representation of hope. It’s nice to be reminded of that.
We lost our first baby after emergency c-section; hanging these photos in the corridor of a maternity ward would not be such a great idea.