The moment a human being is born is full of unusual beauty, both literal and figurative. This beauty is enhanced by the fact that this moment is witnessed only by a few health professionals and the parents or, alternatively, family members accompanying the person giving birth.

Joana Gomes is trying to change that with her photography project A Magia do Nascimento (The Magic of Birth).

Photographing a birth, as Joana does, takes nothing away from its intimacy—the images are taken with all the necessary consents and total discretion regarding people's identities—, but rather bestows the project with the magnificence it deserves and is now being publicized.

An obstetric nurse and photography enthusiast, Joana began photographing the arrival of little human beings to the world outside the womb in 2021.

It is a truly original work in its essence, and unusual due to the intimate or private nature of a childbirth. Each of these photographs is not only an improbable (and, oh, so beautiful) memory for mothers and fathers, but also a powerful testimony that could fit into the concept of photojournalism, since it is information in photographic format.

The midwife photographer, as she is also known, has the merit of educating people in the sense of transmitting knowledge, fostering understanding and, thus, greater empathy and solidarity between humans through her paramount work.

After all, we understand best what we can see.

May the Magic of Birth, therefore, weaken prejudices and eliminate taboos surrounding childbirth, pregnancy, the needs of pregnant women, highlighting the remarkable and crucial work of obstetric nursing professionals and, in short, the birth of human beings.

More information:

https://a-magia-do-nascimento.webnode.pt/

https://www.instagram.com/a_magia_do_nascimento/

Cláudia Gomes Oliveira

1 May 2024