Childbirth During The Pandemic Multi-media Project

Hi, my name is Elizabeth Okoh and I'm a writer and photographer whose work focuses on empowering women and marginalised communities.

The world as we know it changed in 2020 because of the pandemic and as a documentary artist, I'm called to highlight how the national lockdown and restrictions affected women.

This is the second part of my The Marker Of a Generation project where I'll be turning my lens on women who gave birth without a partner or birthing companion during one of the most vulnerable times of their lives.

Even when restrictions on lockdown had been eased and people were allowed to go to restaurants or have a haircut, expecting mothers were still denied the benefits of having a supportive partner by their side.

“Under tier 3, 15 people from different households can go to a wedding but you can’t have one person from the same household or support bubble with you for scans and in all stages of labour. It’s not right and it’s not fair.” Said a new mum in The Guardian's report.

This issue is not to be taken lightly given the risk of maternal death in 2019-2021 was significantly four times higher among women from Black ethnic minority backgrounds.

This project titled – Mother Resilient, is a multimedia project documenting the experiences of women who gave birth during the maternity service restrictions from 2020 to 2021.

The project will consist of interviews, conceptual portraits and a poetry film to explore the women’s mental, emotional and physical realities during this period. In a time when these Black women needed the most support, they were called yet again, to be resilient.

Mother Resilient is an exploration and celebration of Black motherhood. It will be exhibited in London.

This fundraiser will help to pay for some of the costs of realising this project as follows:

Studio hire: £500

Cinematographer: £500 (not me)

Curator: £400

Prints for the exhibition: £700

I'll be self-funding the other costs that will be needed to realise this project such as assistant photographer, stylists, set design, hair and makeup artists, refreshments, participants' costs of travel and other materials to set up the exhibition.

Please donate what you can and share with your friends and family.

As a thank you:

Send me an email after donating if you'd like to redeem your thank you.