Mothers & Midwives

My mother and another midwife weighing a small baby.

These two look thick as thieves.

My mother posing for pictures with children.

A hospital patient with my mother in 1961. Her hand grips the arm of her patient. Among the Tiv people of Nigeria, this is seen often, and signifies friendship and kinship. For me, this picture is deeply symbolic. In a gesture, it maps out what her future will be in Nigeria. Her embrace of the Tiv people was constant.

A group of mothers and their children. The mixture of emotions in these women’s faces, from curiosity to mirth, is echoed in their babies faces.

An unintentional self-portrait, perhaps. Her beehive haircut is visible in the shadow from the setting sun.

A smiling mother, framed between two corrugated tin windows.

Baby is helping to sweep the yard. The strange color of this photo is due to the poor quality of the slide film, but it does add a strange sense of nostalgia to it. I wonder where this child is now.

Two mothers showing off their children.