Giving Light is a documentary photographic series depicting Louisiana women during natural childbirth. The series explores social attitudes toward the female body and the natural process of birth. The current system of maternal healthcare in the United States is an illness-based model in which pregnancy and birth are treated as diseases rather than natural processes.
In this system, women unknowingly surrender their birth experience to standardized care. While this model of care is largely the consequence of economic opportunity, it is perpetuated by social attitudes toward women’s bodies. Historically, popular media have viewed the female body as a passive and often objectified image. This series challenges the viewer to recognize the female body as an active and functional force. Giving Light documents natural childbirth—a universal human experience, often belittled and overlooked.
-Tabitha Austin
