I am a photographer here on the Eyre Peninsula
and I am a huge body positivity activist
and breastfeeding activist
and birth and all the rest
and in particular postpartum.
They feel like they have to bounce back
and they need to look the same as they did before giving birth
and nobody ever looks the same as they did
before they gave birth.
You might fit into those jeans
but your waist is wider,
your skin is looser,
you have marks,
and it’s just your mindset.
Your mindset after you give birth is different.
Nobody bounces back.
You just gave life to this beautiful little human.
It’s a huge change.
I don’t encourage everybody to...
to feel amazing about it straight away
but embrace it.
Everybody’s body is different
and they shouldn’t have to feel a certain way
and feel like they need to look a certain way.
Everybody’s a different colour,
different shape, different size,
some people had caesareans
so they’ve got the scars or the stretch marks
or different ages even,
so different age post-partum bodies.
Just to see that they’re all different
and they can embrace it more.
They can see how beautiful they are
through my eyes.
I can show them how I see them
and they see that when they receive their photos.
So I left school at 14.
I hit a rough patch hanging around with all the wrong crowds
and all the wrong people,
did a lot of bad things,
and so I got kicked out of school
and just made it work.
Went and worked,
done what I needed to do to survive, really,
living out of home as well.
In Year 10 at school, not long before I left,
I did an intro to photography
and that was back in the dark room,
developing it all yourself
and I loved it then.
Then once I had my first child
I realised how beautiful being a mum
and birth and all that is.
so decided to pick myself up a DSLR camera
and focus on that.
I made it into a business
and started documenting those moments for other people.
With my third daughter
I had a VBAC birth,
so I had a vaginal birth after a caesarean,
and I realised how uncommon that really is
so I went on to become a VBAC doula.
I also went on to be a birth doula.
It’s beautiful.
I don’t think there’s anything more beautiful
or amazing
than seeing a woman harness her strength
to give birth.
They don’t even realise the strength they have.
So sitting back and watching them
and being able to photograph
and document that
is pretty amazing.
I’ve come along today to celebrate all mums,
all postpartum bodies
because we’re all so unique and individual
and worthy of being celebrated.
It definitely changes
after you have a baby
and I know for myself personally
always having a nice flat tummy
and always being so skinny
and then after I had my daughter who was just ginormous
and yeah, I got all the stretch marks
and my body changed so much
and it has taken years for me to get to the point
where I can actually be happy and confident with my body
and really love what it is now.
I love my body so much more now
than what I did six years ago before becoming a mum.
You talk to yourself as though
you are your own best friend
and you would never say to your best friend
“Oh your tummy’s a little bit loose" or whatever
so just say to yourself that
“My body is perfect as it is”
and that’s what I’d say to a friend.
“You are perfect, you are unique,
you are you”
and say that to yourself as well.
I’m here to be around other women
who are wanting to squash
the unrealistic beauty standards
that we are held up against
and celebrate our bodies for what they’ve done
as well as what they look like now.
I see a real lack of confidence and,
I don’t know,
I guess I feel like there’s a real emphasis
on what we look like
versus what our body has done.
It’s brought new life into the world
and every day we’re stretched mentally
and physically looking after children
so I think that the more we celebrate what we’ve done
and what we can do with our body and function
as opposed to aesthetics,
it's much nicer for the mum.
I think it’s really powerful
that everyone’s here for the same reason
and I think it’s really nice to be around
all these beautiful mums
who are keen to show off their body
and like I keep saying, what it’s done,
it’s brought life into the world.
I feel like we can definitely pass down certain messages
around our bodies
so there’s people here with their children today
and I think that’s really powerful
and really special to show those children
and those babies how amazing we are.
I hope they leave feeling confident and happy
and loving themselves, really
feeling how amazing they really are,
and seeing how amazing they really are.