In a bid to fight back against the pressure on new mums (and not so new mums) to beat themselves up about their post pregnancy bodies, photographer Neely Ker Fox has completed a project entitled 'Perfect Imperfections'. And it's wonderful.
If you're reading this at work, you might want to stuff your fist in your mouth and / or turn up the radio. Because there's absolutely no way that you can look at the following series of photographs without making a loud 'awwww' noise.
Neely Ker Fox's photo project, entitled 'Perfect Imperfections', highlights the power of women's bodies post pregnancy - and underlines the fact that we should never, ever beat ourselves up for what we look like. After all - what our bodies can do is much more impressive than their appearance.
'For the last 9 months I have struggled with my postpartum body,' explains Neely. 'Unlike with my first pregnancy, in which I bounced right back and in fact liked my body more, with my second pregnancy I barely recognize this new body I’m living with. My abs are separated from my pelvic bone to my sternum, I have an umbilical hernia in need of repair, and I’m currently in physical therapy due to back problems stemming from my abs being weak. I have stretch marks. I have sciatic nerve pain in my bottom. All this came out of left field after my perfect first pregnancy.'
'The days would ebb back and forth between grieving my previous physique, to truly understanding and battling to find strength in the fact that I’ve grown two babies in that body. One baby growing so quickly I can barely wrap my arms around her, the other baby wobbling as he learns to stand… I’m still not there, not fully 100% in acceptance of this new body, but the days pass and I forget the details of that elusive pre-pregnancy body, and I cling to these moments with my babies that need me.'
'Obviously women are more apt to be the victim of body shaming, or the seemingly rampant epidemic of mommy wars. But we as humans all have insecurities and we are all scarred, imperfect and flawed in some way physically and emotionally.'
Check out Neely's full project here.
