Photographers capture joys of childbirth

Difference between urban and rural lifestyles showcased by chronicling first 28 days of newborns

KARACHI: A newborn, wrapped in cozy sheets, sleeping in a bassinet, the expressions of a mother when she sees her baby for the first time and celebrating the arrival of newborns in rural and urban settings.

These real life moments captured by photographers Tapu Javeri, Arif Mahmood and Malika Abbas are as real as they can get.





This forms the crux of their photo exhibition, titled ‘28 Days’, held at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture on Monday.

The photographers have depicted the difference between the urban and rural lifestyle by chronicling the first 28 days of a newborn’s life.

A prominent feature of Abbas’s works is the presence of mesh of a charpoy and jhoolas made out of cloth. Abbas has captured pictures from his visit to Rahim Charan village.



“When I visited the village, I witnessed the creative solutions mothers had cooked up to manage their babies’ needs,” Abbas writes in her statement that has been compiled into a book by Markings Publishing. There are women who have their babies’ perched on their hips while simultaneously doing their chores, grinding in mortar and pestle, and also cleaning utensils while sitting on a rugged terrain.



On the other hand, Mahmood’s pictures showcase enclosed urban spaces. The very presence of a small bath tub for baby is evidence of the extent to which social status and finances can bring a difference to a child’s upbringing.

He also represents young couples who seek help from elderly figures while rearing a child. “It’s hard to describe the sense of intimacy in a household where a baby has just been born,” reads the statement by the photographer.



Another view of the post-birth moments has been showcased by Javeri. He has shown stills from a local hospital, some intervals and days after a baby is delivered. With a young boy kissing his baby sister to a father stroking a newborn’s head and mother’s expressions while looking at her baby for the first time, Javeri has captured private moments often missed out in the heat of the moment at hospitals.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th,  2016.