Lane Hall Exhibit Space

This fall, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender and the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies are proud to present Black Birth Joy by Tiana Lashae in the Lane Hall Exhibit Space. This exhibition documents birth not simply as an event, but as a deeply personal story of connection, courage, tenderness, and joy. Lashae’s photographs and stories challenge mainstream narratives that reduce Black birth to statistics. Instead, the exhibit offers evidence of joy, reminders of possibility, and a visual legacy for generations to come. 

Black Birth Joy was born from Lashae’s belief that more positive birth stories of BIPOC families need to be seen and heard. Black women in particular are scared, nervous, and overwhelmed by troubling maternal health statistics that reflect poor and persistently worsening experiences. Social media amplifies this dehumanizing phenomenon and leaves some Black pregnant women hesitant about navigating the maternal health care system. Lashae’s photographs and the stories that accompany them instead invite viewers to witness the people behind the births: the mothers, babies, partners, families, and birthworkers. In doing so, they create space for BIPOC families to see themselves represented with dignity and to witness the full range of birth experiences, from celebration and triumph to grief and remembrance.

Representation in childbirth also matters because it can foster advocacy around maternal and infant health outcomes. Birth photographs provide a tangible record that can support conversations around quality of care, respectful treatment, and patient rights. They reflect consent in action–a provider making eye contact, explaining a procedure, pausing for permission–or reveal when those moments are missing from the birth experience. The exhibit empowers women to prioritize and advocate for their own birth experiences while also encouraging perinatal health professionals and birthworkers to center the humanity, dignity, and individual experiences of patients and families. 

The exhibit comprises over 30 photographs as well as stories of mothers whose births were documented by Lashae, a doula and birth/newborn photographer whose work has been published in Everyday Birth Magazine, an international publication. The physical exhibit is accompanied by a virtual component that encourages audiences to engage with each mother’s birth story. Lashae’s original photo-voice campaign was realized in collaboration with the Region 9 Perinatal Quality Collaborative, which uses community-engaged and mom-centric approaches to improve health equity and outcomes for birthing families and infants in Southeast Michigan.

Hosted and sponsored by the Institute for Research on Women and Gender and the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, U-M. 

Located on the first floor of Lane Hall (204 S. State Street), the Exhibit Space is free and open to the public, M-F, 9am-4pm. To schedule a tour or class visit, email us at LaneHallExhibits@umich.edu.