Marcel Winatschek

Every Thirty Days

You could go a lot of ways with a pregnancy photo project. Sophie Starzenski chose to point a camera at her body from the side every thirty days for nine months and not do much else with it. No narrative, no artfulness, no emotional permission slip. Just the documentation.

What appeals to me is the refusal to perform. Most people who take these kinds of photos are already selling you something—beauty, wisdom, the sacred feminine, whatever cultural story gets the most reach. Starzenski’s just looking. Month to month the changes are barely perceptible, which means you have to trust the sequence. Watch it long enough and it becomes something you can’t argue with: time does this to a body, it takes nine months, it’s worth looking at.

I think I respect that more than I respect most art about pregnancy. It’s not trying to convince you of anything. There’s no performance and there’s no apology. Just evidence.