In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

The Christmas Season is probably the best time to enjoy my Madonna and Child series.  If you happen to be in Regina Saskatchewan around Christmas please check out my work at the Fifth Parallel Gallery at the Ridell Centre of the University of Regina.  It is available for viewing after Christmas until the 14th of January, when there will be a closing reception from 5:00 until 8:00pm.  Please join this facebook event invitation to keep updated!

When I first saw the reference photo I used for this painting it was among those photos posted on the TERA website (Topfree Equal Rights Association) which had been removed by Facebook.  I found the photo riviting- the look on her face expressed all the awe and emotion that I had felt after the birth of my daughter.  The fact that the mother and baby were locked in each other's gaze reminded me of what I felt when I first looked into my daughter's eyes- I felt as if I had seen her before.  "Hello!  Remember me?"

It disturbs me that a photo like this might be removed while others like the one below are allowed to remain.    

The first image is not necessarily very nude.  No breast area is visable at all, and only a faint shadow can be seen in the crotch area.  Her state is very obviously non- sexual; she is nude for the purpose of childbirth, specifically a water birth.  She's very real, very female, but not sexualized.

I venture to guess that it's the fact that this image is NOT sexual that people find disturbing.  I wonder if it's the fact that she's very human looking, very raw and emotional that upsets people.  Her vulnerable state, her love and obvious joy may be off-putting to people, it reminds us of our own vulnerable state, our own humanity.  In the same way that people seem to find breastfeeding images disturbing, I think they find childbirth photos equally upsetting.  They remind us that we are not the airbrushed, sexualized vision we are used to seeing in the media. 

They remind us that we are human.