What does it mean to want a child but worry that you’re running out of time?

 

This is a feeling that many women are grappling with as they try to align careers, relationships and starting a family, all  before their biological window of opportunity closes. 

 

Glass Eggs explores the phenomenon of egg freezing through the experiences, emotions, and motivations of women who have done it. Each has a powerful story for why she has frozen her eggs: divorce, worries about job security, a partner who isn’t ready for kids, or no partner at all. They are all different, but united by their desire to one day become mothers. By juxtaposing the stark scientific process with the humanity of each woman involved, this project aims to peel back the clinical facade and reveal the layers of complicated emotions beneath—from loss and ambiguous grief, to resilience and hope. Visceral close ups highlight how we still view fertility as a female burden for the female body—men are not faced with the same messaging, pressure or anxiety.

 

In 2019, 16,000 women in America froze their eggs and in 2020, clinics reported a 50% increase due to the pandemic. Although egg freezing is physically intense, prohibitively expensive—one cycle costs $10,000—and not guaranteed to work, this process can offer hope and empowerment to women in a situation that is otherwise beyond their control. 

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gives space to an experience that is not widely talked about, and that has only been around for the last decade. Many women freezing their eggs feel isolated because their friends and family don’t understand what they’re going through. It’s also important to counter the myth that egg freezing is for women delaying childbirth in order to focus on their careers when in fact a study from Yale University found that 82% are freezing due to relationship issues. As someone who wrestled with my own emotions towards the process, speaking to other women has been healing, inspiring, and helped me feel less alone. By sharing their stories I hope Glass Eggs will do the same for others.

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Photos published in National Geographic and Shanghai Photography Magazine, and exhibited at the United Nations.