Krys Malcolm Belc – The Natural Mother of the Child A Memoir of Nonbinary Parenthood – Krys Malcolm Belc

Krys Malcolm Belc’s visual memoir-in-essays explores how the experience of gestational parenthood-conceiving, birthing, and breastfeeding his son Samson-eventually clarified his gender identity.
Krys Malcolm Belc has thought a lot about the interplay between parenthood and gender. As a nonbinary, transmasculine parent, giving birth to his son Samson clarified his gender identity. And yet, when his partner, Anna, adopted Samson, the legal documents listed Belc as “the natural mother of the child.”

By considering how the experiences contained under the umbrella of “motherhood” don’t fully align with Belc’s own experience, The Natural Mother of the Child journeys both toward and through common perceptions of what it means to have a body and how that body can influence the perception of a family. With this visual memoir in essays, Belc has created a new kind of life record, one that engages directly…