Birth As You Please, an exciting and unique multimedia project about the birthing & motherhood stories of 21 women around the world, was published through Riza Press in 2020.
Being an artist, a doula and a social entrepreneur I found in my motherhood journey, the inspiration to contribute to the higher cause of women’s well being. I am in the process of creating a birth stories Art book, “Birth As You Please” because I sense the urgency of adding ideas and research to the dialogue around how birth can be more humane and how women, birthing people, all around the world, in many different cultures can inspire each other to rediscover their life giving capabilities.
I grew up in Athens, Greece, I studied in Toronto, Canada and in Madrid, Spain and since then I have lived in various countries. I started painting at the age of 23, when I was living in Mexico City. I was inspired deeply by Frida Kahlo’s art that was so connected to her life story. I am a self taught painter.
I am now living in the city of La Paz, in Bolivia. The last three years I have been painting pregnancy portraits in my limited time while raising my little three year old son and working at a women’s rights organization.
“Birth as You Please” is my passion, that activates me to find time, when there is no time. I am pushing myself because there has always been a deeper need inside me to create something that is meaningful and connected to a deeper cause.
When I was pregnant it was the birth stories I read at Ina May’s Gaskin Book “Guide to Childbirth” that inspired me to the decision to give an un-medicated vaginal birth with a midwife, at a birth center in Toronto. I believe and trust the empowering effect of storytelling. This book is my intention to inspire soon to be mothers to ask more questions on how, where, when and with whom they birth their children and revive some of the ancestral birth giving practices.
Riza Press 