'Breastfeeding Goddesses' series finds the beauty in public feeding

Anuj Tiwari Last updated on: 10/29/2015, Permalink

Photographer Ivette Ivens wants to make public breastfeeding the norm. The Lithuanian-born Chicago resident takes highly stylized photographs of mothers breastfeeding outside to remind everyone that it�s �a totally normal thing.?� 25-year-old Ivens is a mother of two, and breastfed her older son until he was three.

�I nursed them both anywhere I wanted. From church to parties, from farmers market to high-end designer stores. I believe that mothers should nurse their little ones whenever they want to,?� states Ivens. She is also a proponent for�extended breastfeeding. �Children know when it�s time to wean off. Mothers do too. Strangers don�t know, so they shouldn�t care.?�

Ivens recently held an exhibition in Chicago titled �I breastfeed my toddler?�; later this year, she is releasing her photo-book,�Breastfeeding Goddess. Ivens also specializes in family photography.

At a time when mothers are�routinely shamed�for breastfeeding their children in public, photographer Ivette Ivens wants to normalize the practice through a beautiful portrait series.

Her ongoing project "Breastfeeding Goddesses" features ethereal portraits of mothers feeding their children outside of the home. As Ivens tells�Mashable, "My own experience inspired me to spread the word and encourage other mothers, as well as non-mothers to see breastfeeding the way it's supposed to be seen," she says. "My message is simple: anywhere, anytime."

In each portrait, the settings are often quiet outdoor spaces and her subjects are nearly nude or draped in airy fabrics. Though the series shows scenes of serenity that are often far from the reality of breastfeeding a child in public, Ivens says she's not striving for the realistic.

"My images might seem unrealistic, and I'm not aiming to show the raw side of it," she said. "My goal is to reveal how each mother feels while breastfeeding their child."

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