Setting the Scene
“I feel so honoured to have worked with these extraordinary women, who shared their stories with such honesty and courage. This commission gave me a rare chance, as an artist, to reflect on my own lived experience too. More than anything, I hope these portraits help open conversations, so others feel heard, supported, and know they’re not alone.”
This is Also Motherhood.
I am an artist and a mother.
Over 20 years ago, I became a mother for the first time. At the time, I was living in rural Mid Wales, far from family or familiar connections, having moved there with my then-partner. My experience of maternity care began with extraordinary kindness. The team at Knighton Birth Centre, and especially my midwives Di and Beth, surrounded me with such warmth and reassurance. Across my pregnancy they made me feel safe, truly cared for, and never alone.
But my labour was slow to progress, and I was eventually transferred to Hereford Hospital. There, the contrast could not have been more stark. I was told there was no room for me, that I was not in active labour. I was bewildered, in pain and distressed, placed on the antenatal ward, and left feeling unheard. An hour later, when my waters broke, all I could think was: I knew it.
After a prolonged and difficult labour, my son arrived. Following one long, harrowing night in Hereford, I returned to the unit in Knighton to recover. By then, I was unwell with a Group B strep infection. The midwives once again gathered around me with extraordinary care. Unlike my partner, who, in a devastating and unexpected turn, decided he no longer wanted the responsibility of being a father.
What followed was a time of deep upheaval. I could not remain in the home I had built, and soon found myself navigating homelessness with a small baby; sleeping on sofas, spare mattresses, and in the kindness of borrowed rooms. Before finally leaving Knighton, I went back to visit the unit.
I still remember the midwives’ words to me that day: “Maybe one day, Carolyn, you’ll make work about this.” At the time, still raw with trauma, I shook my head.
The years passed. Life moved forward. I met a wonderful man, John, who became my husband, and we had two more children together. My three children are now grown, and I have built a career as an artist, using photography, sound, and moving image to centre people in their own stories. My practice has always been about amplifying quieter voices, creating portraits with people, not simply of them.
So when Rachael Jordan from the Maternal Mental Health Alliance contacted me about this exhibition, I felt an instant connection. The project aligned perfectly with my values and, though she didn’t know it yet, it resonated deeply with my own lived experience. The one I had carried so much shame about for so long. The words of those Knighton midwives echoed back to me. By creating this work, I was, at last, transforming my own difficult history into something that might offer strength and hope to others.
I wanted the portraits in this exhibition to be powerful and compelling, but also tender. Not a re-enactment of trauma, but a reflection of it: a gesture, an object, a still life that could hold memory. Alongside each portrait, I recorded the women’s stories. Stories told in their own voices and on their own terms.
My process is deliberate and collaborative. It begins with conversation, with trust. I travel to each woman, set up a temporary studio in a place where she feels safe, and take time, sometimes an hour or more, before the portrait is complete. Each still life emerges slowly, shaped by her memories and chosen objects. Finally, there is the long interview: space for her voice to lead. The whole process takes half a day.
For the exhibition, I also wanted to create something immersive and symbolic. Each woman wrote her story, which I photographed and had printed on muslin; a fabric intimately tied to the earliest days of parenthood. Hung in the gallery like lines of washing, these cloths work as a metaphor and carry both fragility and strength, an offering of memory into shared space.
I feel deeply honoured to have worked with these extraordinary women, who opened their hearts and entrusted me with their stories. Their honesty and courage are a gift. My hope is that this work not only raises awareness, but also helps to break through the silence and shame that too often surrounds these experiences. May it open a channel for others to speak, to listen, and to know that they are not alone. Together, we can share, support, and strengthen one another.
Carolyn Mendelsohn is an award-winning artist and photographer whose practice is rooted in telling stories and amplifying quieter voices through co-produced portraits. Her work has been selected, collected and exhibited internationally, within solo and group shows including at Impressions Gallery, the National Science and Media Museum, Imperial War Museums, Open Eye Liverpool, Portcullis House, the Royal Albert Hall, Galerie Huit Arles and UNESCO in Paris, and widely published. Carolyn is Artist in Residence for Born in Bradford, an Ambassador for Nikon Europe and one of the first ambassadors of the Royal Photographic Society.
(C) Scarlet Page