Perfect Imperfections – beautiful photo series of moms baring their scars and marks

June 10, 2015

It’s not a new concept to photograph moms baring their scars and stretchmarks, and representing beauty beyond what we see in magazines and on billboards. For me, these phtotos of “real moms” (as they call them) don’t get old, and this series by American photographer Neely Ker-Fox is magnificent.

Called “Perfect Imperfections”, the photo series features children and their moms, whose cellulite and stretchmarks aren’t Photoshopped, but rather on show.

Says Neely on her blog:

“For the last 9 months I have struggled with my postpartum body. Unlike with my first pregnancy, in which I bounced right back and in fact liked my body more, with my second pregnancy I barely recognise this new body I’m living with.

My abs are separated from my pelvic bone to my sternum, I have an umbilical hernia in need of repair, and I’m currently in physical therapy due to back problems stemming from my abs being weak. I have stretch marks. I have sciatic nerve pain in my bottom. All this came out of left field after my perfect first pregnancy.

The days would ebb back and forth between grieving my previous physique, to truly understanding and battling to find strength in the fact that I’ve grown two babies in that body. One baby growing so quickly I can barely wrap my arms around her, the other baby wobbling as he learns to stand… each day taking them further from my womb, further from this place they used to call home.

I’m still not there, not fully 100% in acceptance of this new body, but the days pass and I forget the details of that elusive pre-pregnancy body, and I cling to these moments with my babies that need me. One day I won’t be needed anymore, little by little it’s happening each day. My oldest’s newest phrase, ” Let me do that, I can do it by myself.” My youngest nurses less with each passing month, and gains new motor skills that take him one more step away from me.

One day they will stop reaching for my hand, they won’t need me to kiss their boo-boos, before I know it I won’t be needed anymore. But these lines, these battle scars of life… I will carry them with me until the day I die. I see myself 20-30 years from now, resting my hands on this soft tummy of mine, sitting in an empty house remembering this season of my life, and with age and wisdom, the bigger picture will have played out and these insecurities I feel now will be but a laugh under my breath.

This project is not intended to just focus on Motherhood, I see it having many chapters, with several characters all with differing stories to tell. I would even love to see some men participate in the future. Obviously women are more apt to be the victim of body shaming, or the seemingly rampant epidemic of mommy wars.

But we as humans all have insecurities and we are all scarred, imperfect and flawed in some way physically and emotionally. Standing on the other side of this first endeavor into this project, I’m convinced people of all ages, genders, and races, people with differing reasons for struggling to find acceptance of their body image, could benefit from this. I want to see more diversity next time: postpartum, weight gain/weight loss, cancer, amputees, paraplegics… I could go on and on.