A photographer is preparing to reveal more than just her bump in an exhibition about her pregnancy – including scans and close-ups of bloodstained tissues.

Amelia Shepherd, from Brighton, aims to challenge the “countless clichés and crass remarks many expectant mothers are subjected to” in 288 Days, which starts on Monday as part of the Brighton Photo Fringe festival.

The installation features a wall of 200 images of Amelia, including one of her resting her eight-month bump on a sun lounger, and a wall of words including diary entries documenting “changes to a body and a psyche”, midwife records, scans and test results from hospital visits, close-ups of bloodstained tissues, medical advice captured in pregnancy manuals and torn-out magazine articles.

Amelia said: “I was astounded that during this, an acutely personal experience, my body suddenly seemed to become public property, open to a whole barrage of judgments.

“I found that all the clichés, public opinions and unrealistic media representations barely scratched the surface of the reality of my pregnancy experience.

“These were 288 days when doubt, confusion, lack of confidence and physical ailments clashed with elation, excitement and wonder at what was to come.

“Most significantly, this exhibition acknowledges that beneath that most feminine of all, the female bump, there is a far more interesting, imperfect and fragile complexity.”

The freelance photographer gave birth in April to her first child a son called Rico Remi Sheridan, who is now five months old.

Amelia said: “I would love to have another baby. But I need some time to prepare mentally for the pregnancy and birth before I do.”

288 Days by Amelia Shepherd is at the 4th Floor Collective at Vantage Point in New England Road, Brighton, from Saturday until November 2.

It is open from 10am to 6pm Wednesdays to Saturdays and on Sundays from 11am to 5pm.