Tani and her daughters in the garden | DER GREIF — Tani and her daughters in the garden

Faye and Raino | DER GREIF — Faye and Raino

Tani and Her Daughters | DER GREIF — Tani and Her Daughters

Bonnie and Sunny | DER GREIF — Bonnie and Sunny

Bonnie and Josie, Waiting II | DER GREIF — Bonnie and Josie, Waiting II

Stephanie, With Her Mother and Firstborn, 38 Weeks | DER GREIF — Stephanie, With Her Mother and Firstborn, 38 Weeks

Eb, 25 Weeks Pregnant, Post Mastectomy | DER GREIF — Eb, 25 Weeks Pregnant, Post Mastectomy

Jules and Jessiebella | DER GREIF — Jules and Jessiebella

Jade and Alfie in bed | DER GREIF — Jade and Alfie in bed

Jen Kobe & Kruz | DER GREIF — Jen Kobe & Kruz

Steph and Uschi under the fruit tree | DER GREIF — Steph and Uschi under the fruit tree

Bonnie and Sunny at Home | DER GREIF — Bonnie and Sunny at Home

Jessiebella and Silas | DER GREIF — Jessiebella and Silas

Lily, Sadie and Jasper | DER GREIF — Lily, Sadie and Jasper

Jo and Patti in the living room | DER GREIF — Jo and Patti in the living room

Lily and Alice, 5 Weeks Old | DER GREIF — Lily and Alice, 5 Weeks Old

Jessiebella and her two | DER GREIF — Jessiebella and her two

Bonnie and Sunny, Breastfeeding | DER GREIF — Bonnie and Sunny, Breastfeeding

Wild, with Oakie in utero | DER GREIF — Wild, with Oakie in utero

Bonnie and Sunny in the garden | DER GREIF — Bonnie and Sunny in the garden

Stephanie and Uschi | DER GREIF — Stephanie and Uschi

Tani and Darcy | DER GREIF — Tani and Darcy

Lily and Alice, breastfeeding | DER GREIF — Lily and Alice, breastfeeding

Motherhood Works (Ongoing)

Artist Feature of Amy Woodward

Jan 18, 2023

My practice is largely centered around the experiences of motherhood. What I am seeing unfold is a gestating body of work encompassing 4-5 years of my photographic practice capturing the stories and lives of mothers. Throughout this journey I felt called to explore the magnificence, strength, intimacy and tenderness of the motherhood experience: witnessing the relentlessness, intensity and the contradicting facets of being a mother in a society that overlooks and devalues a role worthy of reverence and representation.As I grew and birthed our second child, I observed how closely my practice is influenced by my own hormonal state and fertility. The later stages of pregnancy gifted a manic expansiveness and energy to create. As I write, the early postpartum stage following the birth of my second child has passed and my cycle has returned - I am starting to move through this familiar, dark terrain of re-emergence where I am engulfed by identity crisis, by grief, by the energy of death and rebirth. The duality of motherhood is a potent and volatile energy, and each rite of passage comes with an invitation to see things differently - through softer or darker eyes. Witnessing and documenting the universal experiences of motherhood is a long-form body of work. I revisit the mother-child subjects in my photographs, photographing them over time. It is a deep privilege to be invited into sacred and intimate spaces to bring stories of motherhood forward. I expect these narratives to evolve, grow and unfurl in a similar nature to parenthood itself in all of its meandering chaos, messiness and immense beauty.