Unibirth

Sounds of the Earth.
Breathing of my child.
Heartbeat of mine.

All in the rhythm of life.

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Photo by May Xiong

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Our first child. Growing day by day inside of me, aspiring to see the world. I wanted to memorize this precious moment of our lives. I immediately thought of my friend May Xiong to take my maternity photos. May and I did a conceptual photo shoot together back in September 2012, inspired by the theme of one of my projects, unibirth. Unibirth, a conceptual performance with music and dance I did in San Francisco in 2012, celebrates the reincarnation of lives that exist in nature and signifies the infinite cycle of the universe. When I started to contemplate on the idea of my maternity photo shoot, I felt that my pregnancy embodies the concept of “unibirth” in real life; I had visions of myself wrapped in the fabric I painted during the performance, standing somewhere in a tranquil forest, embracing the moment of the awakening of a new life.

May kindly accepted my wish for this maternity photo shoot, and flew in from Seattle. May and I celebrated our reunion after 6 years, and revisited wonderful memories together. My husband Ben, May and I into the woods, trying to find a magical spot for the shoot in the morning of June 16th. I could only walk so slowly on the hilly path, carrying so much weight in this belly. The air was so fresh, smell of lush green and ambient light of the morning through the woods soothed me during the hike. I could feel my baby moving, kicking and hiccuping, as if he’s also enjoying the power of nature.

This photo was taken during the 34th week of my pregnancy, one day before my birthday in Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, California.