Renaissance art inspiration behind Winnipeg photographer's work
'I am guided by the principles of fine art,' says Elliana Allon
Her subjects are going through one of the most intense and raw experiences of life: giving birth. But Elliana Allon, 38, turns pain into moments of beauty and serenity, captured forever through her camera lens.
"I just find that it's the most artistically inspiring type of material to look at, especially coming from a sacred art perspective," said the Winnipeg-based photographer, who specializes in labour and birth photography. She is the latest artist featured in the Manitoba Creates series.
Allon, a former nurse, became a full-time photographer in 2015, and an on-call birth photographer a year later. Her photography practice also includes boudoir, pregnancy and studio work.
Allon's work — of labouring women, their partners and the newborns — has a clear thematic vision.
"I am mainly guided, not so much by photography as a technique, but I am guided by the principles of fine art, specifically, the Renaissance," said Allon.
She also captures women in the post-birth glow of relief, elation and exhaustion. Her images also freeze those precious moments between mother and newborn immediately after birth.
Allon is on the job during births but she is not a dispassionate observer, she said.
"I end up going through stuff with my clients. I feel pain. I sympathize. I feel compassion. I see women, especially labouring and birthing women, go through very pretty dark places. I can't just sit there and stay disconnected just to tell a story unbiasedly."
She has photographed 25 births so far and hopes to create a "legacy of work that depicts birth, motherhood and the feminine realm as the sacred art that I believe it to be."
Allon is currently looking for a publisher to work with on a fine art book and would ultimately like to see her work shown in galleries.