On Hiatus
hi·a·tus
/hīˈādəs/
noun
A pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process.
Similar: pause, interval, interruption, suspension, intermission, lull, respite, recess, breather.
From Latin, literally ‘gaping’, from hiare ‘gape’. In the early Christian Church and some modern churches, a-gape is the love feast accompanied by Eucharistic celebration.
Faces of Postpartum is going on a hiatus from social media to reinvent how it will exist and grow from now on. I will use the next few weeks as a gap within the interweb space to reflect — a recess from Instagram and Facebook’s relentless demands to be loved and harvest likes. The goal of this project has never been to be consumed in 0.456 seconds. This project delivers lengthy and charged interviews, and their substance deserves to be slowly absorbed — and celebrated.
A-gape. In French, agape also means a banquet; a communal meal shared amongst friends and loved ones. We know when these agapes will start but not when they will end. There will be wine, amazing food, beautiful conversations, and undoubtedly tears and laughter. A celebration of life, in short.
Those who have received my newsletters for the past few months know I’ve been battling with the public-space posturing that social media requires. At best, I’m uncomfortable; at worst, I’m thinking about disconnecting altogether.
Luckily, I’ve had mentors who helped me understand that a project such as Faces of Postpartum will never be linear and demands constant tweaking. Someone like Craig Mod has recently summed up perfectly my feelings about sustained publishing:
As I was conjuring up the shape of this thing it struck me as slightly insane that more photographers don’t do this — mail out a single photo once a week. Ideally we’d subscribe to a cadre of our favorites. [...] No comments, no likes, no stream of other images to compete against, no Reels to be sucked into, no algorithmic curveballs. [...] Things to be enjoyed as units unto themselves in ways that are difficult to do in the din of social streams. And best of all — if you want to say something nice, we just have to hit reply.
As he says, “Instagram is very good and miraculous for certain things, and not so good for many other things.” Social media is simply not a place where things can live, which is what I want FPP to be: some sort of archives of words and images that can be (re)visited over and over again. So — I’ll promote the stories and photography on Instagram and Facebook, but not as much as I am currently doing.
Right now, I spend more time scheduling these posts than I am at editing and “doing the work” of telling stories. And this feels yucky.
I am still not sure of the shape and rhythm the publications will take. I do not want the stories to be digestible but to be slowly ingested and processed — I love me a good extended metaphor about food! If you want to follow along and be contacted when a new story or photography session pops up (because yes, I plan on doing more of these in 2021,) subscribing to the RSS feed or the newsletter is still the best way to remain in the loop.
I want more time to write and photograph you. And this hiatus feels like a step in the right direction.
PS. People imagine I am flooded with stories of postpartum humans. I am not. Often, I am reaching out to inspiring people I find (ha) on Instagram or by word of mouth. I have never been short of stories, but I also don’t have a year-long waiting list for new interviews. Please reach out if you feel like it. COVID has been a blessing in disguise in the sense that it opened up virtual interviews. It is also an incredibly lonely time for new parents. So wherever you are in the world, reach out. And if you reside in the DMV area, I am happy to come to you (with my camera!) as the weather improves.