Mumbai, October 2022: Mother’s United Moment (MUM) is a forum, conceptualized by India’s first baby and a portrait photographer, Shikha Khanna to bring 100 inspiring stories of mothers around the world in a coffee table book called “100 Self-Portraits 100 Dreams”. The aim behind this event is to showcase the courageous journey of mothers and uplift the spirit of motherhood which will encourage the coming generation.
In this book the shutterbug Shikha Khanna has featured moms from different walks of life, she captured the beautiful journey of mothers from Air Force, LBGTQ community, Lifestyle coaches, doctors, Scientist, musicians, photographers and many more. Some of the noted mothers are Olympian & Arjuna Awardee Ashwini Nachappa, Actress, VJ, Home chef Maria Goretti, Visually impaired artiste Shellyann Siddo; Para-Athlete, Padma Shri & Arjuna Awardee Deepa Malik amongst many others.
The Prime minister of India Shri Narendra Modi ji has extended his support through a letter stating. “ I am glad to learn that you are bringing out the book “ 100 self-portrait 100 Dream”. In the land of a billion and more dreams. I wish this effort all the success in empowering mothers by catalysing greater societal support for women and their dreams. In the next 25 years, our Amrit Kal, women are set to play a key role in building a strong and self-reliant India. I am positive that your effort will add strength to the nation’s mission of women-led development.”
Speaking about her initiative Shikha Khanna, Curator of MUM said, “Mother’s United Moment (MUM) is an initiative to honor mothers as mothers, for balancing their personal and professional life gracefully through a picture story. As a mom, I always felt that the voice of the mother is unheard, however empowered they are. I wanted to give them a medium to express themselves through their lens and tell their compelling tale in their own words, to encourage other mothers who are grappling and feeling alone.”
“What makes this book different from the rest is the way it captures the essence of motherhood by self-portrait. Here mothers are visually expressing themselves and their stories.”
MUM is physically bringing together over 100 mothers across the globe in a 3-day event 11th to 13th November 2022 in Pune’s, Oxford Golf Resort to recognize, reward and celebrate motherhood. It will be tough for attendees to choose which session to attend and which one to skip because each one is curated though fully with content that is more engaging than the others.
The 3-day event will see various fund-raising activities like Run for MUM Marathon, Pune tour, film screening, and entertainment programs like Sufi Music night and stand-up acts and many more. Fund raised will be donated for building sensory room at Sunderji Institute of Special School, which provides a conducive learning environment for neurodiverse children whose educational needs cannot be met within a mainstream setting.
Everyone who wish to attend the events and know more can keep a track via their social media channels and Website – https://www.mumindia.com/
https://instagram.com/mothersunitedmoment
About Shikha Khanna:
Shikha Khanna is a portrait photographer who has studied photography at the International College of Professional Photography (ICPP). She is also a visual content coach and a self-portrait expert.
She was possibly India’s first photographer who specialized in photographing newborn babies, would-be moms, pets, and families when she started 20 years back. She has Photographed more than 1000 Families over the last 20 years. She runs a company under the name of “Kids Say Cheese”.
She has done a number of projects with various schools like DPS International, Aravali International School, Learning Lighthouse, Cambridge University (London) etc. She is also involved with “Delhi Poetree”, the project of shooting 200 contemporary poets.
Shikha has also done a lot of work with street children including photo presentations for social causes for ICONGO NGO award functions, Footpathshala, etc, and continues to contribute to society with her photography.
She has also been teaching photography for the past 10 years and now specializes in teaching iPhone photography. She was a professor in JIIMs and is presently taking many online classes with iPhone. She has been conducting practical photography workshops under the name of PHOTOGRAPHY MADE LIGHT since 2007. She has been teaching online photography classes to grades 6, 7 & and 8 in Inventure Academy during the covid time. She has conducted four 5 Day photography challenges with more than 100 participants in the last two years.
Shikha Khanna likes to work with natural light and shoot people in their own environment. She believes that every human face has a beautiful inner light and she likes to capture that light in her photographs. Her current project with 100 moms across the world has been highly appreciated. She is now being invited on stages like Rotary to talk about the same.
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