An isolated mother breastfeeding her child during Covid: Dola Posh’s best photograph
‘I gave birth during the pandemic and was cut off from my family. It was just me and my daughter at home. That bedroom was my sanctuary, my place to hide and cry’
This was taken in the winter, a few months after my daughter’s birth in August 2020. It was during the Covid pandemic. I didn’t have any work and my anxiety levels were very high. I was isolated and my family couldn’t be there for me. It was just me and my child at home. That October, I was diagnosed with postpartum depression. My health visitor prompted me to start therapy. I hadn’t picked up a camera for months and didn’t know where to begin. My therapist suggested I document how I was feeling by writing – but I chose photography. This was the first image I took, and the genesis of a series. To me, my gaze is the longing for home, for community – and for myself. I was lost in that moment, struggling with self-identity, but I also had hope that the light in my heart would come back.
What I see in the image now is a resilient mother: a woman who has a voice and who, despite everything that’s going on, wants to bring something to life. I hoped another mother would connect with it, that it might save someone else who was going through the same thing.
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