Nancy Durrell McKenna

Photography, Film, & Books

For over 35 years I have been photographing and filming women, children and their communities in more than 85 countries. My focus and passion has been maternal and newborn health, which draws me like a magnet to pregnant women. In 2003 I founded the UK charity SafeHands, dedicated to improving maternal health and the sexual reproductive rights of women and girls nationally and internationally. We use photography and film, powerful communication tools that supersede the limitations imposed by literacy and language to raise awareness about important subjects including Child Marriage, Obstetric Fistula, Female Genital Mutilation, HIV/AIDS, Family Planning, Safe Delivery and Menstrual stigma and taboos.  Our films educate. empower and inspire action in the developed world and improve the knowledge and skills of front line health workers in emerging countries.
Nancy Durrell McKenna photographing subjects

Commissioned Work

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In SafeHands Book

In SafeHands is a compilation of thirty years of photographic work dedicated to the women, girls and their communities, who welcomed Nancy into their lives and who trusted her to tell their stories.

Purchase Book

Other Books

2019 – In SafeHands, second edition, pub. SafeHands for Mothers
2016 – In SafeHands, pub. SafeHands for Mothers
1995 – Living in Canada, pub. Ginn and Co Ltd. UK.
1992 – Living in India, pub. Ginn and Co Ltd. UK.
1988 – Canadian Family, pub. Adam and Charles Black, London
1985 – Yik Ming in Hong Kong, pub. Adam and Charles Black, London
1984 – KwaZulu South Africa, pub. Adam and Charles Black, London – The Times Educational Supplement Junior

In SafeHands Exhibition — on tour

This exhibition has been transferred to ​La Coruña, Galicia, NW Spain, February 2022.

 

Photos from the Royal British Columbia Museum Exhibition
Victoria, BC
June-August 2019

​Touched by a Midwife and One Aspect of Woman

Touched by a Midwife and One Aspect of Woman photographic exhibition depicts the extraordinary form of the pregnant body with the skill and love of a Midwife. This exhibition has been purchased by the Whittington Hospital Trust to adorn the walls of its Birth Centre.

Film

In the past 21 years, the work of SafeHands has expanded, but what remains at the core of our work is the belief that when women tell their personal stories, they have the power to spark change.

Awards

2015

Inspiring Campaign for BOND International Development Awards for Now That You Know, Say NO to FGM

2010

Best Direction for The Cutting Tradition, Philadelphia Documentary and Fiction Festival

2010

Best Documentary for The Cutting Tradition, Victoria Australia Independent Film Festival

2007

The Royal Photographic Society: Combined Royal Colleges Medal

1998

The John Dobson Foundation, grant for Safe Motherhood Project

1996

British Council
Travel Grant

1994

The Bronze Award for Birth: Eight Women’s Stories, British Media Association Film and Video Competition

1993

The Gold Award for Birth: Eight Women’s Stories, New York International Film and Television Festival

1985

The Times Educational Supplement Junior Information Book Award for KwaZulu South Africa

The Cutting Tradition

This moving and sensitive documentary narrated by Oscar winning actor Meryl Streep, highlights, in a non judgmental way, the complex social, religious, cultural and economic issues which underpin the ongoing practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).

Watch the Film in English

Watch the Film in Spanish