Call for Submissions: Help Make Birth Visible – Research & Portrait Project

Content warning: This project includes graphic depictions of the physical realities of childbirth, including blood, pain, and medical imagery.

Photo: Alexa Mazzarello

Help Make Birth Visible: Call for Birth Photos

Submission Deadline: Monday, November 30, 2026, 11:59pm ET

Now accepting submissions of birth photographs for a visual research and portrait project focused on making birth visible. Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, this project is spearheaded by artist and photographer Alexa Mazzarello in an effort to honour the depth, complexity, and diversity of birth experiences.

Alexa welcomes imagery of birth (from parents and/or guardians)—from hospitals, birthing centres, homes, or any other setting. Both vaginal and Cesarean births are welcome!

Submissions must be shared with full ownership and/or permission. All photographs will be used only within the context of this project and related exhibitions. Selected contributors will receive a modest honorarium for their contribution.

To learn more and submit your images, visit here.

Eligibility

Parents of all kinds are encouraged to submit (including adoptive parents who were present at birth).

Compensation

Contributors whose images are selected will receive a modest honorarium (this is per contributor, not per image selected).

Photo: Alexa Mazzarello

Selection Process

This is a one-step process. Interested contributors will complete the submission form, and all images will be reviewed by artist Alexa Mazzarello. Selected participants will be contacted and invited to take part in the project. Contributors whose images are selected will receive a $25 honorarium per contributor, not per image selected.

Project & Submission Requirements

We’re looking for:

• Birth images documenting all types of birth
• Photos where submitters (or their families) have full ownership and consent to share images
• Any setting (hospital, home, birthing centre, etc.)
• Photo type in JPEG or PNG: digital, phone, film. Please send the highest resolution you have access to.
• Archival images are very welcome (your mom’s old albums?), but please send digital renditions of the hard copy image.

If you’re unsure if your submission fits, please contact us at hello@alexamazzarello.com.

Photo: Alexa Mazzarello

How to Submit

Please review the full details and submit your images via the online submission form.

Submission Deadline: Monday, November 30, 2026, 11:59pm ET

For additional information or questions, please contact:
Alexa Mazzarello
hello@alexamazzarello.com
www.alexamazzarello.com
Instagram @alexamazzarello

More Info:
Learn more about Alexa’s project Failure to Progress.

Image Descriptions:
1. A film photograph of Alexa Mazzarello crying out in an unposed moment immediately after the vaginal birth of her daughter, Maya, who lies on her chest beneath hospital linens.
2. A snapshot of newborn Maya resting on her mother’s chest in the minutes after birth, with the umbilical cord still visible before it is cut.
3. A placenta delivered after the birth of Maya, shown at Ottawa Civic Hospital as gloved hands exiting the frame just held it open for examination beside a metal basin.