Exhibition: Carrying Life: Motherhood and Water in Malawi at More London
WaterAid and the Wimbledon Foundation have teamed up to launch Carrying Life: Motherhood and Water in Malawi, a striking outdoor multimedia exhibition by award-winning photographer Laura El-Tantawy.
The exhibition is open to the public from March 3 to April 14 at More London in Tooley Street, near Tower Bridge.
Laura El-Tantawy is a British/Egyptian documentary photographer, artful bookmaker and educator.
She currently lives in London and Cairo in Egypt.
Growing up between East and West inspires her work, which contemplates notions of home and belonging, with a particular focus on social & environmental issues pertinent to her background.
Her photography is recognised for its characteristically painterly and lyrical eye on reality.
The 22-piece photo exhibition will be unveiled along the banks of the Thames, shining a light on the stories of mothers and babies in Malawi’s Ntchisi district impacted by dirty water, poor sanitation and a lack of hygiene in health centres.
Captured in El-Tantawy’s distinctive and emotive style, the poignant yet powerful photographs reveal women’s hopes and fears in Malawi’s “guardian shelters” – basic structures near the local health centre where expectant mothers and their “guardians”, the family member or friend who helps them, stay as they await labour, often without the vital essentials needed for safe childbirth.
The collection of striking images and moving portraits will be displayed across lightboxes and digital screens, giving a unique glimpse into the lives of the women in their final stages of pregnancy, childbirth and the journey into motherhood and beyond.
Through this new work, El-Tantawy not only offers an intimate insight into the lived experiences of mothers across the generations but also explores the extraordinary bond between women giving birth in such unsafe circumstances.
Picture: Lustiya, 32, gave birth at Ntchisi District Hospital when it still had no water Picture: Laura el Tantawy