Body As A Unique Vessel
Featuring Imogen Freeland Words by Nastasia Khmelnitski
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Imogen Freeland, a London-based photographer, explores motherhood in different forms and shapes. Through her caring and honest lens, the differences in experiences women have are emphasized and asked to be normalized. The focus is brought back from the newborn child to the woman and her perception of the new state — the state of motherhood.
Birth of a Mother is Imogen’s latest project that researches the feelings, the emotional background, and the physical element that comprises the transition to the new state and the becoming of a mother. Through Freeland’s photography and her personal story, the community is born of women who share their unique experiences openly. “All the different stories I have heard have resonated with me and helped me gain a greater understanding of the different forms that motherhood can take for many women.” - Imogen explains.
Embodied, Imogen’s ongoing project, addresses the beauty of the female body. The project became a journey for Imogen and her subjects. While for Imogen, it was a path of connection to her subjects to understand their stories better. For her characters, this journey was of acceptance and awakening, allowing one to re-realize one’s own beauty and uniqueness.
In this interview, we speak with Imogen about her approach to her body and the appreciation of it, and the way her perception has changed throughout the years. We discuss her two projects, Birth of a Mother and Embodied, which have a beautiful connection between the love of the subject and the authentic passion for their stories. We close by speaking about Imogen’s plans for new themes as she returns from maternity leave.
‘Just knowing that I wasn’t alone with the struggles I’d come up against was hugely comforting for me, and it’s something I was keen to reassure other women of also.’
Honesty In The Gaze
Hi Imogen, how are you doing? Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you about your beautiful work. What strikes me the most is the honesty with which you approach the subject. On one hand, through your deep realization of the experience, which allows your subjects to bring in their own story; and on the other, from the way you share your moments and thoughts, speaking about postnatal depression and the process of giving birth and becoming a mother as a whole. What effect did the stories of other women you photographed have on you?
I truly believe that sharing our personal experiences plays an important role in preventing other people from feeling that they may be going through something similar on their own. Just knowing that I wasn’t alone with the struggles I’d come up against was hugely comforting for me, and it’s something I was keen to reassure other women of also. All the different stories I have heard have resonated with me and helped me gain a greater understanding of the different forms that motherhood can take for many women. There is no doubt that motherhood, with all of its challenges and triumphs, takes great strength and resilience.
What was the most meaningful story you worked on that brought a positive change in the perception of a pregnant woman’s body?
Bindi’s story will always stand out to me as a truly admirable and empowering one. I photographed her while pregnant, having used a sperm donor. Her experience wasn't easy by any means, and she faced challenges along the way, but her determination and courage always fills me with so much joy to think about.
‘The cultural pressure on women to become mothers only intensifies as you grow older — setting women up to feel as though we are failing in some way if motherhood isn’t something we choose if it doesn't come to us with ease, or perhaps happens unexpectedly.’
Birth of a Mother
What I find truly beautiful and inspiring is the shift in perspective you suggest with your work Birth of a Mother. The sudden change in focus invites to look at the major change a woman can undergo instead of the more obvious one — focusing on a baby. What led you to start working on the project, and what was your main learning?
I remember feeling the weight of motherhood looming over me from a young age — playing mummies and daddies in the playground, knowing that it was something I would later strive for. The cultural pressure on women to become mothers only intensifies as you grow older — setting women up to feel as though we are failing in some way if motherhood isn’t something we choose if it doesn't come to us with ease, or perhaps happens unexpectedly.
The reality of fertility and parenthood is rarely straightforward. As a society, we have learnt — or rather been taught — to internalize these natural challenges as personal and shameful issues rather than common human ones. I wanted to shift the focus away from the baby because the mother so often gets forgotten once they arrive. I also strongly believe that for many women, motherhood starts long before conception and isn’t defined by having a child earthside; it is rooted in one's intention through longing or loss, existing with or without children. Something I’m still learning is that by sharing our stories, we’re able to offer each other some much-needed compassion, and this, in itself, is the greatest way of learning that we also must allow some compassion for ourselves — something mothers aren’t generally very good at, I find!
‘I’ve always found the key to captioning beauty through the lens lies within a tender connectedness. The process of making these portraits feels very uncomplicated.’
Embodied
In your ongoing project, Embodied, you work on the theme of beauty, self-awareness, and control of one’s own story. The emphasis is the work with the subject to open up and reveal their story and also with society, as a whole, once the image is released, to try and change the perspective or shift the norm. The presentation of a body in your work is through a different gaze, the one that allows the beauty to become more ‘obvious’ and recognized by the other. What is the process on set to work with models, create the connection, and finally choose the angle and the narrative?
Embodied (working title) is about feeling at home in your own body. It’s formed by a collection of photographs that have developed organically over time. It started with photographing Sophie as a way to help her record her journey of self-discovery and reconnection with her own body, having lost touch with it over the years due to a lack of acceptance of her weight. I felt incredibly honored to be able to capture it for her. The shoot with Sophie led me to think more about different expectations and stereotypes of the feminine body within society. The toxic beauty standards — that we have learnt to hold ourselves to — have reigned for too long.
I’ve always found the key to captioning beauty through the lens lies within a tender connectedness. The process of making these portraits feels very uncomplicated. It’s a matter of spending time with the subject, making sure they feel comfortable, and waiting for something to unfold. What I love about these images as a collection is that there is a sense of rawness, pride, strength, and intimacy interwoven between them, and yet, each portrait is unique and characterful, as I believe they should be.
My approach to how I perceive the body is undoubtedly also linked to my own experience and connection to my body, having grappled with various illnesses throughout my life. I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue and later Lyme disease in my twenties and found myself feeling trapped by my body. Since then, health has been something I’m incredibly grateful for and never take for granted. Through childbirth, I have experienced physical traumas that have changed the way that I view and appreciate my body. And, of course, as my body continues to fluctuate through my pregnancies, postpartum, and as I age, my relationship and compassion for it continues to grow. I think there can be great beauty, knowledge, and power in the way we explore and celebrate the body as a unique vessel, and I’m excited by how representation and our concept of beauty are starting to change for the better.
A Sneak Peek
Could you provide us a sneak peek into the project you’re currently working on or some of the themes in development?
I’m beginning to resurface from maternity leave, still feeling wildly overrun by my two very small children, but ideas have begun to flow again. There are a few exciting things in the pipeline I’m unable to talk about right now, but a real pull for me recently has been a fascination with the river and our connection to nature as I continue to explore the body and navigate motherhood.
