“There is no personal solution at this time. There is only collective action for a collective solution”. Carol Hanisch, 1969.

The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and continued breastfeeding up to 2 years of age or beyond when solid food is introduced.

The personal is political.

When a personal experience also resonates in other people as a shared problem, that personal is political.

If a private action such as breastfeeding a child, is done in a public space, that act is political.

Breastfeeding is a private decision, considered in relation to the care of another being. That personal decision, when it is not respected, must be claimed as a right. And that claim is political.

 

This project seeks to make visible what is censored, condemned and silenced in so many countries: breastfeeding outside home and on demand.

Many women continue to breastfeed their children in private for much longer than they publicly declare, and keep it as a secret to avoid judgments and opinions, sometimes,  even inside their own families circle. This has been one of the greatest discoveries during the development of my work in this project.

Many women, despite their own instinct, simply surrender in front of the opinions of others, when they say that “more than 6 months is too much”, “if the child can eat, you must wean”.

These images seek to represent a global collective that asks for respect and support in their decisions regarding where, when and how long to breastfeed.

 

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