Elora has documented the stretch marks on mothers and in her own unique manner praised the female body. as a photographer and a homemaker. She is the creator of the Kintsugi Mama Project, which she refers to as “the beauty of stretch marks” and which features images of mothers boldly displaying their stretch marks while posing for the camera.
“As my daughters got older and started asking questions, I wasn’t really prepared for the kinds of questions they would ask me. The questions include quite a few impossible questions like how wide is the space? why, why, why? Like most parents, I tried my best to navigate the barrage thrown at me at the most random times of the day, but there was one question my youngest asked me one day. sparked something in me and planted a seed. Here’s the question: “What are those stretch marks?”.
She is pointing with her tiny hand at the stretch marks on my abdomen. My reply is straightforward: they are stretch scars. Where do they come from, is her response. Describe how they occur when the epidermis shrinks and then heals, like when you give birth in your bell, in my prepared responses. Do you like them, Mom? she questioned after giving me another belly poke. She appeared pensive for a moment.
I had to resist the impulse to whine about them, to feel embarrassed about taking my shirt off, and to stow them away. But I didn’t, and I told her that they represented something lovely coming out of me, so they were a gorgeous part of me. I responded that perhaps one day if she had kids she might if she pulled up her shirt and inquired if she had them. “Then, Mom, I’ll be as pretty as you,” she added. My heart literally overflowed, and I quickly snapped a few photos with my camera. This sowed a tiny seed for the Kintsugi Mama Project, which would eventually grow into something bigger.
The concept has grown and blossomed in my mind: what if we see things that are not stories but stories? Time passed and I learned about the Japanese art of Kintsugi, which involves mending the broken with gold. That is my recollection. What if we thought of them as the physical markers in the narrative of our bodies – the ones that produce life, care for it, and nurture it? And what if, rather than concealing those “imperfections,” we exalted them and made them whole again with gold, the most priceless of all? What if we took the time to appreciate their true magnificence? Will our perception of ourselves change? Should we celebrate women’s power?
In the same blog post, Elora shared several photos of this project. The moms have painted their tretch marks with glitter and are posing for the camera.
With these photos, Elora celebrates the female body in her own way and sends a great message not only to mothers but to everyone. Through this particular project, Elora wants to relieve mothers of stretch marks and the changes in their bodies during pregnancy.
For the purposes of the project, the mothers painted their tretch marks with glitter and posed for the camera.
Many of them are also holding their babies. Above, the mother is breastfeeding. The project is not finished yet…but here are some of the photos it covers so far.
