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Intimate Photos Of What Giving Birth Really Looks Like Around The World

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Photo: Alice Proujansky.

If Alice Proujansky could send one message with her photographs, it would be that "birth is normal." Proujansky has seen women give birth in a myriad of conditions, from a Doctors Without Borders health center in Nigeria to a midwife-led home birth in Brooklyn, NY. As different as these settings may seem, Proujansky focuses on what makes childbirth a universal experience — and why more people need to talk about it.

In a conversation over the phone, Proujansky, who lives in New York, tells us she knew she wanted to photograph scenes of childbirth when she realised that it's one of the few experiences all people share; "Everyone has been born."

The actual event of birth often takes place behind closed doors, which only made Proujansky more intent on bringing it to light.

"It's a way that we don’t often see women's bodies," she says, adding that the sexualization of women in mainstream photography doesn't leave much room for any other kind of representation, let alone portrayals of childbirth. So Proujansky wanted to make sure that her photos instead showed "women's bodies working, doing this really powerful thing."

Her photographs truly capture the raw physicality of birth. These images make it clear why we use the word "labour" to refer to childbirth. Proujanksy tells us that, yes, viewing them can be a lot to handle; she has given presentations during which male college students excused themselves from the room. But that has more to do with how people in the U.S. view birth than the actual images.

In this country, Proujansky says, birth is presented as one of two extremes: "You're either going to have an epidural and you're going to be in a hospital and have a doctor, or you're making a statement by giving birth in a field."

To an extent, both are available options. But, when they're presented as the only options, women may not be aware of all of the decisions they can make to be sure they're comfortable when they give birth. As much as childbirth is a universal experience, "it's also very personal," Proujansky says.

Click through to view a selection of Proujansky's work. At once chaotic and quiet, jarring and intimate, her images bring us one step closer to reckoning with how we think about childbirth — and why we can't understand it fully without experiencing it.

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A patient with her newborn baby at Hospital Juan Pablo Pina in San Cristóba, Dominican Republic. The hospital lacked hot water and consistent electricity.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

A doctor and a medical intern deliver a baby by Cesarean section at Hospital Juan Pablo Pina.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

A doctor treats a woman who has had a miscarriage, while a nurse and a medical intern assist at Hospital Juan Pablo Pina.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

A doctor treats a woman who has had a miscarriage at Hospital Juan Pablo Pina.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

Patients await Cesarean sections at the Juan Pablo Pina public hospital.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

Patients' relatives wait outside the maternity ward at Hospital Juan Pablo Pina. Female relatives are allowed to enter the ward after delivery to care for their family members, but men are not allowed to enter.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

Jen Carnig holds her son, Wiley Lavoie, immediately after his birth as her husband Dan Lavoie, daughter Olive Lavoie, and best friend Lisa Johnson look on. Carnig gave birth at home in Brooklyn, NY.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

Jen Carnig gives birth to her son Wiley Lavoie at home in Brooklyn, with the help of midwife Cara Muhlhahn.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

Laura Mejia, 38, in labour at the Birth Place in Winter Garden, FL, assisted by her husband, Brandon Smith, and doula Stephanie Abdullah-Simmons.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

Laura Mejia in labour at the Birth Place.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

Midwife Chioma Ochomma listens for a foetal heartbeat at the Doctors Without Borders-run Aiyetoro Health Centre in Lagos Nigeria. The foetus had died.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

Mothers wait for their newborns to be vaccinated at the Doctors Without Borders-run Aiyetoro Health Centre in Lagos, Nigeria.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

Nurse Kayla Jones, 25, updates a patient's chart after her abortion at Buffalo WomenServices in Buffalo, NY. Jones gave birth to her now-four-month-old daughter at the Birth Centre of Buffalo, which is part of the same facility. A combination birth centre and abortion clinic is unusual, but the staff believe women should have access to the full spectrum of reproductive care in one place.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

Nurse Kayla Jones, 25, pumps breast milk for her four-month-old baby at Buffalo WomenServices.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

Midwife Elsa Gonzalez Ayala shows CASA Midwifery School students how to perform a traditional Mayan massage used to shrink a woman's uterus and reduce postpartum bleeding. The students traveled to Chunhuhub, Quintana Roo, Mexico to learn traditional midwifery.

Photo: Alice Proujansky.

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