Photovoice: Katie Greenwood

This Katie Greenwood, I have always looked up and admire her! now I play with with her, what a dream come true!

"These photos are a small snippet of my lacrosse career. From my first season to my current, there feels to be three seismic shifts in my career. From child to adult, from first dreams to medals, and from individual to mother. Each are the many lives I’ve lived in the span of a 24-year career, as well as the interests that keep me sane outside of sport and motherhood.

The previous two years have seen me go from pregnant and unsure how I would feel returning to lacrosse at an elite level, to competing at a world championship a year later in a position that I’m not known for. The challenge of reinvention felt possible with the drastic change that becoming a parent brings. I needed this test of self-determination to prove I wasn’t ready to retire, nor a one-trick pony. Once I was out of the newborn sleep deprivation (but still delirious), I knew I was ready to start down a new path before I returned to being a goalie.

Throughout the year, not only was I breastfeeding, but Rowan refused any and every bottle, which was extremely exhausting. I will be forever indebted to John, my husband, who brought Rowan to every training weekend as well as tournaments near and far. But if I were asked, would I do it any differently? The answer is no, not even at the world championships. There was something that made me feel powerful, feminine, about running off the box floor mid-drill, pulling my pads up, nursing, and running back out there to bash into people. 

While I had a relatively seamless recovery and return after giving birth, I did have some bumps in the road.

Continuing through the year, I broke two of them 6 weeks before the world championships. Looking back, I don’t know how I managed to balance caring for a baby who didn’t walk yet and train enough to stay ready for a history-making championship. But then again, 4 weeks on from breaking my arm, being put in an above-elbow cast, and wrestling a running toddler while still training, it’s evident somehow we find ways to do the things we were called to do. For me, the next path is leading me down a tandem path, raising my son and hopefully, the Olympics"

Below are the cyanotypes I created:

"To me, the cyanotypes feel more like a memory than a straightforward image—like a reel of film playing in my mind. I also appreciate how they continue the “bruised” colour theme you explored earlier. The tones leave a stronger emotional impression than regular colour, yet the details soften and blur, almost like the way a dream lingers—vivid in feeling but hazy in form. There’s a sense of nostalgia and introspection in them that really draws me in."