Interview: enceinte

Christina Donoghue: Why did you reach out to Nick Knight to document this part of your life?
Tessa Kuragi: I knew I would only likely be pregnant once, and I wanted to make the most of it creatively so I arranged a number of shoots with my favourite photographers in London, Paris and Tokyo, with Nick being my first choice.

I was fascinated by how much my body changed during my pregnancy and the feeling of having another being inside of me, so, naturally, It felt incredibly important to explore this through my own particular means of art. I knew that Nick would understand and help me to create something spectacular. I also wanted fashion to be central in telling the story and having known and worked with Nick over the years, he was top of the list: I knew I could trust him with the challenge of proudly presenting my pregnancy this way to a loved one.

CD: Can you speak a bit about the concept the photoshoot was based on as well as the overall meaning behind it?

TK: As is often the way when working with Nick, both of us took some time to share our own ideas about the project, and different aspects naturally emerged. There were themes around fluidity, reproduction, sporing and, naturally, sex. There was also something about the cosmos, thoughts of mythic ambrosia and the creation of the Milky Way that I found interesting and wanted to tap into aesthetically. Overall, I wanted to challenge the divorce that has happened between sex and birth, that idea of a woman losing her sexuality when she becomes a mother.

CD: Naturally, sex is a big part of this fashion story. How important is it that these images are viewed in a sexual light, or even at all?

TK: While I do hope that the images will elicit some feeling or interest or arousal... ultimately, I do not put importance on such specificity of whether it is viewed in one light or another - I can only hope different people take away different meanings from the shoot.

Obviously, for me personally, there is a huge sexual component - sex being the means by which I became a mother! But I also wanted to take the time to explore how my own sexuality changed while being pregnant; my sex drive increased, my skin glowed, my breasts became even fuller and the oddly phallic and somewhat exciting feeling of being able to create and expel fluid all excited me tremendously. On top of all of this, I was also experiencing a more intense love and bond with my partner - sexual intimacy being one of the many ways of expressing that.

CD: What are your thoughts on pregnant women being viewed as 'virginal' and 'holy' by society? Why do you think we attach such notions to pregnancy despite sex being so intrinsic to it?

TK: While I have had many people appreciate the photos I have created while pregnant (in particular, other mothers who have found comfort in seeing a fellow pregnant woman and mother to be embrace her sexuality), I have also had others criticise me, stating that I am somehow doing something 'inappropriate'. I hate that word simply because it is largely meaningless without any elaboration. I get the sense it is to do with this idea that mothers
should somehow cease to exist as sexual beings, which does feel linked to the holy or virginal mother archetype. It reduces women's complexity to only being able to function as one thing only when, of course, women are far more complex than that. I can still be sexually aroused by my partner and make love to him whist being pregnant. I can lovingly breastfeed my baby at one time, while having fun with milk at another. A mother's sexual desires are just as important as anyone else's.

CD: What do you want people to take away from these images?

TK: All I hope is that they elicit some feeling, or thought, or interest. It would be good if they challenge the virgin mother view, but I'd be just as happy with someone appreciating the beauty of the fashion!