ISU - Body Image
For our final assignment for photography, we were instructed to take any 5 photo's in whatever medium we choose, of whatever topic we choose. I chose to take portraits of a diverse group of people delving into the issues surrounding body image.
Artist Statement
My goal with this art project was to showcase the juxtaposition between how we view people and how they view themselves, by showcasing a diverse group of people and their relationship with their body image. I gave each model a positive and negative photo to display these contrasting emotions. In addition to these photos, I added cracks and glitter to display this theme further, showing how a person’s perception of us can enlighten our view of ourselves for a short amount of time, like the fleeting effect of glitter and how it falls off skin, or how someone’s view can deeply shake our very foundation and damage our perception of ourselves. The harsh use of lighting for the black and white photos demonstrates the harsh view we hold ourselves to, and how we don’t do the same for others, and the coloured lights show how peoples compliments reflect back on ourselves. My main question going into this project was “Why do we view ourselves in such a negative way compared to how others perceive us?” I chose to present a diverse group of models to showcase how our body type, race, gender, and sexuality can affect the weight behind the critiques of others, and our own judgement of ourselves.
The weight of words often go unnoticed. We all have insecurities, and the things that other people are insecure about may shock you, which is why I incorporated an audio piece to accompany the visual display. The conversations I had with the models during the process brought to mind the following questions. What qualities do we hold to have value? Why are we more eager to compliment ourselves on our personality than our appearance? Are we taught that it’s wrong to hold a high opinion of ourselves? I hope that upon examination of this art piece, these questions can be analyzed, and perhaps even answered.
