A Perth photographer is helping women challenge ideas of “self-loathing”.
Fremantle-based photographer Jasmine Skye was a nurse for 16 years before she picked up the lens and began her own business.
“I found my way into newborn family maternity photoshoots because I was a paediatric nurse,” she said.
“I was very natural handling the babies and wanted to teach myself how to take photos.”
Skye found herself in a place of “burnout and stress” while she was on maternity leave but in 2016 an underwater photography competition caught her eye.
“I was like ‘oh that would be amazing with a pregnant woman’,” she said.
“And I asked my friend, who was pregnant at the time, if she would be willing to let me practice on her and I was totally hooked from there on in.”
Last year the Perth mum embarked on a journey to photograph more than 60 women, including herself, to feature in a coffee table book and debut at the 38-year-old’s first solo exhibition.
The opening night for the exhibition, Underneath, will be at the Fremantle Naval Store on August 18.
Skye’s subjects spanned dozens of women with different personal stories and triumphs, including Olympic swimmers, trauma survivors and those who had had fertility or pregnancy issues.
“It is by far the hardest project I have ever done,” Skye said.
“There is so much more self-loathing going on beneath the surface than you realise.”
The Fremantle photographer said her subjects were able to be vulnerable and “embrace their own unique beauty”.
“The undercurrent of the whole project is growth because everything you’re insecure about in the water is generally what you’re insecure about on land,” she said.
“It really brings it to the surface — you kind of lose control or have to let go.”
Sarah, one of the women photographed, said the photo shoot was physically tough.
“I had concerned myself so much with how I’d look and did not consider how hard it would be to stay underwater,” she said.
“I was left awestruck at most of the gallery .. the body I have spent the last 30 years criticising and tormenting myself over was stunning and strong.”
In the book, she delves into how motherhood changed her into a stronger and “unapologetic” version of herself.
“I spend so much time in mum mode — practical clothes, no make-up, hat on hair that should’ve been washed the day before,” Sarah said.
“This was for me.”
Underneath will officially launch at next week’s exhibition.
Tickets can be purchased online.