Gravida - Eliza Bell Schweizbach
Gravida
Eliza Bell Schweizbach
In the winter of 2021, after witnessing a dear friend’s harrowing battle with hyperemisis — severe nausea + vomiting from pregnancy — I started looking at the world of maternity portraits and wondering - Do pregnant people feel seen by these? So I started asking them - For you, how does it feel to be pregnant? And they answered. . .
“Exhausted. Pure exhaustion.”
“It feels simultaneously miraculous, and unremarkable.”
“A journey of complete and utter blind faith.”
“Psychologically confronting, physically sensational, a cultivation of resilience, a daily experience of that zen proverb 'let go or be dragged.’
They shared their infertility struggles, child loss, isolation, lessons from being a surrogate, or a same sex couple. . their awe, and their fears.
And then, with their answers and stories in mind, I photographed them. Always in the last few weeks of their pregnancy, when the weight and expectation was at its greatest.
Always at, or near, their homes, here in the southern Appalachian mountains.
Eliza Bell Schweizbach is an artist and documentary photographer living in Asheville, NC.
She sees her camera as a tool for deepening curiosity, celebrating connection, and allowing people to feel seen. Since childhood, she has been enamored with the natural world, and has been markedly influenced by a lifetime spent in the Appalachian mountains.
Alongside her current personal projects — Gravida (an exploration of the complex experiences of pregnancy) and Photo Poem Post (an ekphrastic poetry collaboration) — she works as a wedding and family photographer, work she finds endlessly compelling.
Instagram: @elizabellphotography
