Dr James Clifford Kent, Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies and Visual Cultures and a practising photographer, has recently shared work from his current, very timely photography project ‘Pregnant in a Pandemic’ via the independent news source The Conversation.
The project is based around a series of portraits and stories about people's experiences of love, loss and survival while pregnant and giving birth during the pandemic.
Above: A photograph by James Kent of a mother and child looking out of a window at a sea view.
After Dr Kent's partner Charley had a traumatic experience giving birth last year, he shared their story on Instagram. This was met with a huge response from hundreds of women who wanted to tell their own stories about what it was like having a baby under pandemic restrictions. He teamed up with Dr Sarah Lloyd-Fox from the University of Cambridge to explore these stories alongside the research she has been doing.
With colleagues at the University and Cambridge University Hospitals Dr Lloyd-Fox has set up the CoCoPIP research study (COVID in the Context of Pregnancy, Infancy and Parenting). This study has been following families since July 2020 and providing a platform for them to record their experiences of pregnancy, health care and social support, birth, and parenting in the context of COVID related restrictions and impacts.
Read the full story and see a selection of James' photographs here.