THE FOURTH & FOREVER TRIMESTER

In these sketches, I used hard pastel in a hue similar to the rich, smoky blue of indigo pigment—a nod to my first son’s name. They are the first drawings I made post-pregnancy, and, I hope, universal to all mothers regardless of our different pregnancy, birthing, and childbearing experiences. And, it's sweetly ironic that my second son resembled the baby in the series much more than my first, given that the drawings were made before he was born.

After the shock and awe of my first son’s birth, I began making quick sketches done from imagination amidst the flurry of diaper changes, bottles, and laundry while caring for him full-time. These sketches—with stretched stomachs, engorged breasts, Cesarian section scars, round cheeks, pudgy ankles and tiny hands—functioned as a visual diary as I began life postpartum, which is often referred to as the fourth trimester. 

Unlike my usual works, which are fastidious and time-consuming, these drawings are fast and frantic out of necessity. In them, a healing body cradles a new life, finds rapture in their quiet moments together, finds purpose in protection. I hope that these sketches capture the rawness and imperfection of motherhood as much as they capture its aching tenderness.