Be still, my heart

"Be still, my heart" is an ongoing project about teenage mothers in South Wales, UK. When I moved here to pursue a Master's Degree one of the first things I noticed was the great number of young girls with babies, something quite rare to see in Italy. I have found my subjects on the streets, spending many hours inside shopping centres where they often meet up with friends, and most of the time they respond with a "No, I'm not interested, sorry". They are scared, skeptical, diffident, maybe they think that as a photographer who is working on a project about teen mums my intent is to portray them as irresponsible adolescents, a burden for society, a waste of public funds. Because this is what is often thought on the subject. Wales, and Britain in general, has one of Western Europe's highest rates of teenage pregnancies (5 times more than Holland, 2 times more than Germany and France. In 2010, 4,5% out of a sample of 1000 Welsh girls aged 15 to 17 got pregnant and only less than half got an abortion). The girls who are more likely to fall pregnant while still very young come from disadvantaged households. Most times their mothers too were teen mums themselves and therefore understand and support their daughters' decision to keep their babies. Or if they come from families that didn't give them enough affection, they feel a new baby can fill this absence. Someone to give what they didn't receive. Or else, they simply found out too late that they were expecting, and didn't do anything to terminate the pregnancy.

The Welsh Government provides support financially, as each mother has right to a house in dedicated areas in each town and weekly Child Tax support, and all doctor's visits are free as well.

Most of teenage mothers are already housewives: they spend their days at home or in town shopping for themselves or their babies with friends. They have become adults too soon but they seem not to mind it, for them it's normal to live on their own by as early as 16, take care of the house, themselves and their child(ren), taking them to the doctor's every other day, etc. Only few of those I have met work and/or go to school for the moment.

The babies' fathers, contrary to what one may imagine, are almost always present and live together with mother and child, and do the best they can, often working multiple jobs, to contribute to their small and young family's wellbeing. Likewise, the grandparents are always supportive and very present in their children's lives.

My intent, and hope, is to show the strength with which these young women cope with having become a parent earlier than they had expected, and the infinite love they offer their children. I would like to give them back the grace and dignity that society often forgets or pretends to forget, seeing them merely as incompetent and careless adolescents with no hope for a future. They themselves speak of stigmatization and of how a mother is a mother regardless of age.

For each girl photographed I also have an interview.