TEMI JOHNSON | The Legacy House
The Rainbow
Motherhood Project
A curated portrait collection documenting women who carried life after loss. After rounds. After years of silence.
|20 women. 20 stories. One exhibition.
WHY I CREATED THIS
I am a double rainbow mama.
That means I carried life after loss. Twice.
I know the waiting rooms. The early mornings. The silence that follows when someone asks "Is this your first?" and the answer is complicated.
I created The Rainbow Motherhood Project because these stories are rarely told and never photographed with the weight they deserve. Not as cute announcements. Not as Instagram reveals. As museum-quality artwork that honours the courage it took to get here.
Each woman will be photographed alongside the child the world doesn't know she fought for. Beside each portrait: a handwritten letter, the words she never said out loud.
If this is your story, I'd be honoured to tell it.
— Temi
Your Experience
& WHAT'S INCLUDED?
THE FULL PORTRAIT EXPERIENCE:
01 A portrait session, you alone, you and your child or children. No session fee.
02 A private Artwork Reveal session
03 You will receive $250 ARTWORK CREDIT towards photographs and products. You ONLY buy the ones you love!
04 An invitation to our Rainbow Motherhood Exhibition/Gala night
05 Your story, a brief statement in your own words displayed alongside your portrait in the exhibition (only with your full consent)
You always control your level of disclosure. Your portrait can hang with your full name and story, with only your first name, or anonymously. This is stated clearly and repeated at every stage.
Every image is created with intention.
Every final piece is printed as heirloom-quality wall art, metal or museum-grade fine art materials designed to outlive us.
Because this is not for Instagram.
It is for 30 years from now.
WHO THIS IS FOR
This project is for you if any of the following are true:
- You went through IVF, one round or many. You know what a beta level is. You know what a waiting room feels like at 7am. You know what it is to hope with your whole body and then to wait and to find out.
- You lost a pregnancy. One or more. You carry that loss in a private part of yourself that the people around you may not fully understand. You love your child or children with a specific ferocity that is permanently threaded through what you've been through.
- You are a rainbow mama. Your baby is here and you know that the joy of that is never completely separate from the fear that ran through everything before.
- You have been waiting for someone to make a portrait that holds all of it not just the miracle, but the whole story.
If you are reading this and recognising yourself, you belong in this project.
20 women will be selected.
This is not a session you book.
It is a story you are chosen to tell.
APPLY
Tell me your story
I read every application personally. This is not a form, it is the beginning of a conversation.
Share as much or as little as you're comfortable with.
I created this because no one else could.
My name is Temi, the face behind Temi Johnson |The Legacy House and a double rainbow mama.
I know what the sharps container in the bathroom cabinet means. I know what it's like to pee on a stick and feel fear instead of joy. I know what it means to love a baby you're afraid to believe in.
I created The Promised Light Experience because when I was pregnant with my rainbows, I wanted to be photographed but not by someone who would tell me to "enjoy every moment" or "think positive." I wanted someone who understood that my joy was laced with terror. That my love was laced with grief. That my body was simultaneously doing the most miraculous thing it had ever done and carrying the memory of every time it had broken.
I couldn't find just that photographer. So I became her.
When you sit in my studio, you don't need to explain your story. You don't need to translate your grief for someone who's never felt it. You don't need to perform joy you don't fully feel.
You just need to show up. I'll understand the rest.
