Florence Middleton: Project Proposal

In 2020, a company selling postpartum products for new mothers produced a commercial to air during the Oscars. The commercial portrayed a recovering mother wearing a postpartum diaper and struggling to use the restroom as her baby cries in the distance.

But the commercial never aired. The Oscars banned the commercial for being “too graphic.”

My photo essay, After Birth, documents the postpartum journey in America. We frequently hear about pregnancy and birth, but postpartum remains the most hidden – and the most dangerous – stage of the birthing journey.

In 2022, the CDC released new data revealing that nearly 85% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. More than half of those deaths occur during the postpartum period, or within 365 days after birth. Despite this, postpartum healthcare remains sparse. Women with uncomplicated pregnancies receive 15 checkups before birth but only one after birth.

Postpartum stories that do exist are brief and focus on breastfeeding and postpartum depression. I will follow women during their year after birth to tell an in-depth, complex, and intimate story shedding light on the unseen journey that for some, leads to preventable deaths.

After Birth shows the joys of new parenthood, the early postpartum recovery, exhausting nights, the six-week postpartum checkup, the return to work, physical and mental health complications, and the baby’s first birthday marking one year postpartum for the mother. We will see women’s experience who have resources and support and those without.

After Birth fills a visual void by normalizing the postpartum period in a country where one of the most common human experiences remains invisible to the public eye, dangerous, and ignored. This project prompts the viewers to ask: Why is this happening, and what can we do better?

In October, I began photographing women in the Bay Area, California, as well as a mother in Arkansas – the state with the highest rate of maternal mortality in the nation. I am continuing to look for more mothers to include a range of experiences.

After Birth will employ documentary style photography where I will capture unfolding scenes. I will include high-grain imagery to portray dark, late-night moments and use a slow shutter to paint photos with blur to document the feelings of chaos and intensity when appropriate. And I will include a range of detailed shots, close ups of faces for emotional connection, and wide shots for context.

This project concludes in May 2024.