Brianna jacobs

Beautiful Bodies

 

     The media has such a strong influence on the way women’s bodies are viewed in society. Many of these views leave women embarrassed, disgusted and ashamed of their bodies. Some women have become so wrapped up in what they want to change about their bodies, they can not even recall one thing that they love about themselves. Though we are taught to love ourselves for who we are inside, we live in a day in age where there is no escaping the media and the bombardments of their almost impossible standards of beauty. I seek to bring attention to this issue by celebrating women’s bodies without judgement, but with full support. I encourage everyone to love themselves for their personalities, their skills, their minds, their strengths and their weaknesses. Some women still can not get past what they think are their “physical flaws”. In this project I invite women to share their own insecurities and unique qualities, parts of their bodies that they love and parts that they hate. Upon finding things they dislike, I ask them to find why it makes them unique, and to think about changing how they feel about it.

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     I invite you into the minds of the beautiful women who have volunteered to share how body image has affected their lives. There is a negative and positive side to the issue at hand, and I intend to show you both. On the negative side, are the subconscious thoughts and feelings of women in isolation controlled by their body image. On the positive side, are the descriptions and stories that women have shared with me. I know that society may frown on us complimenting our figures, however we realize that it is very important to have positive body image. We may not be able to change the media, but we can choose to look past it.

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     Of great importance is my interest in the figure and how body language can communicate strong emotion. The highly emotional work of the German Expressionists are what inspire my figures and compositions. The gorgeous paintings of Pat Steir remind me of the freedom and joy that can come with my work, and give emotion a physical form. I use woodcut and monotype for the lack of full control that I have over them. The media is free to do what they each uniquely do on their own, giving an honest quality to an honest topic. My work is filled with deep human emotion in one's own mind. In the end, I discovered that it is all about learning and healing. I will continue to make feminist activist work in hopes of helping women realize that society’s views should not always be our views. Our stories are more common than we think. We should be more open to share them. I believe that is what the human experience is all about.