The Statue of a Postpartum Mother is Being Praised (Well, Mostly)

There simply isn't enough representation of what postpartum bodies truly look like. "Bouncing back" immediately and looking exactly like you did pre-pregnancy is certainly not the norm, but media depictions have completely warped our ideas about what it means to exist in a postpartum body. And on top of that, there's this idea that postpartum mothers should hide their bodies away completely. But a new London sculpture is doing the opposite.

Mother Vérité was commissioned by Frida founder Chelsea Hirschhorn and created by sculptor Rayvenn Shaleigha D’Clark. It appears right outside Lindo Wing, a private maternity ward in London — ironically, the same spot where Kate Middleton famously posed for photos shortly after giving birth...and looking, well, completely unlike the typical picture of a postpartum mom who is just trying to stay awake while healing for birth and caring for a brand new baby.

We never see public depictions of the linea nigra, the dark line that appears on your belly after birth. We never hear that our bellies will likely still be distended as the uterus takes time to shrink back down to its usual size after carrying a baby for 9-ish months. And we never talk about the realities of how postpartum bodies function: They bleed and they sweat and they leak. So when women find themselves in the postpartum period, and they learn about these realities in real time, they wonder if they're freaks. If they're the only ones who look like this or feel like this or have this weird issue that nobody warned them they might encounter.

This sculpture is important. Normalization of postpartum bodies is important. Yet some people feel it’s not realistic enough.

“I have to say my first thought was her tummy does not look like she just gave birth, she’s conventionally beautiful and slim. When I compare it to how I looked post partum I don’t find this empowering," one commenter writes on an Instagram post revealing the piece. "I appreciate the concept but I find the execution missed the mark."

The thing is, it would be impossible to represent every postpartum body with one piece of art, and this commenter has a point. But this is progress. 

Ask Clara: What can women expect in the postpartum period?