Beginning first as a response to an internet call-out for remote photographers, The Women We Are evolved into a collective visual story about a supportive community of eight women in Mid-Michigan and their relationships with their bodies and self-image. 

Drawing on her 22 years as a photographer, Amanda Grieshop spent a year beginning in February 2014 interviewing, photographing and documenting the intimate relationships between a woman, her body, and life experiences that bond the two. 

Excerpts from the interviews punctuate the 40 black and white images with recollections of mothers and lovers, births and deaths, abuse and survival.  

As a whole, The Women We Are aims to connect its viewers with its models in a unifying experience that dissolves stigma and reminds us all that we are humans with hearts, no matter our body size or shape, our clinical or reproductive history, or whether we’re tattooed and modified or not. It is a collective story. One that will provide the courage for women to be proud of themselves, to feel beautiful in their skin, and to be comfortable with who they are.