Moments to Connect to Community (Oahu Photographer and Birth Doula)
When my family moved to Hawai’i (O’ahu to be exact) I knew that really determining what would stay and what would come with us was pretty important to our new way of living. What was a little harder to figure out was what to do with my photography studio and everything that went with it.
Having a private studio to photograph in was a life dream of mine; so much that when we started seriously discussing the potential move to Oahu, my husband wasn’t sure it would be something I’d be able to leave behind. But if anything was going to complete with my love of photography, it would be Hawai’i.
After we settled into our permanent home, everything fell into place; with the exception of my photography studio wall art display. Not just photographs, these were canvases and prints I had personally hand stretched, matted, framed and painted myself. Stuffed in closets. Leaning against walls. Strategically placed under beds. It stung, knowing years and years of work, time, dedication, and money on these portraits weren’t being properly cared for but it was the best I could do.
Shortly after we arrived, I had the privilege of attending a meeting with Jen Dombroski, founder of the Dakota Lee Foundation and Sunny Chen, Executive Director of Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai’i. As we talked about the birth community and how we each wanted to play a helpful role locally, Sunny mentioned, ‘Just a small thing I wish we could do for our Mother’s would be to spruce up our space. I wish it felt a little more welcoming - we need help.’
And just like that - my photographic art of breastfeeding moms, newborns with their families, and kids playing found a space to call home.
As the recipient of several non-profit outreach and government assistant programs when I was a young mother, I love opportunities to encourage any new or young mom to feel a little more at ease and comfortable. For me, this couldn’t have been a more perfect arrangement: rather than keep everything hidden and in storage, I was able to find purpose in where they stayed and, maybe in some way, encourage another woman to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Because while it’s a different story for a different day, the time between receiving help from agencies to creating these images were many, many years. But I’d like to hope in a small way it will resonate with someone that, even if it takes one decade at a time, a lot of life lies ahead.
Letter written to Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai’i from Photographer and Birth Doula Teresa Robertson
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