Date: 8 February 2012
Tagged as: sun. lene. solvang. photo. photography. nude. body image.
Body Image is a project where I go home to people, either friends or strangers, and they undress as much as they’re comfortable with and expose what they want of both themselves and their home. And once the photograph is taken my models write a text about their own body image.
This project for me is honest and real, it is without any photoshopping, it’s just me portraying real people just the way they are. I hope people will take the time to read the text the model has provided and that this project will affect someone out there.
“I was a skinny teenager. At fifteen, my chest was still flat, my body shapeless, I walked clumsily and my skin was pale. I looked pallid and uncomfortable. I had long, unkempt hair, dry and flat, through which my ears protruded. When I look at photographs taken in school, I think: «Good god, girl. No wonder you were unpopular!». Yet, I can see myself somewhere in there. I realize that all I needed was a sense of style, a new haircut, the social intelligence which I unfortunately lacked. More than anything, my looks mirrored my social position.
Over the years I went through a slow change, in which I found the clothes, face and hair that I wanted to represent me. I learned to eat more, which lead to my chest unflattering and my unshapely body gaining curves. Now I no longer need to worry about the size of my breasts. I worry about other things, such as the fat on my belly or the tiny wrinkles emerging underneath my eyes. But this worry is of a different kind, mingled with interest: I’m still young, still having my best years, yet I’m visibly beginning to age. I am more aware that how I look, both in the nude and clothed, is a result of choices I make and how I live my life. And every time I have the choice between exercising and reading a book, I tend to choose the latter.
My body image fluctuates, I hate it one day and love it the other. I always consider the way I look to be important, because it decides who I experience myself to be and how I and others view me. Therefore I choose my clothes carefully and apply my layer of makeup in a habitual way. If I dress in an unfamiliar style or apply my makeup differently or not at all, I feel that I’m no longer «myself».
As such, my body image is closely related to my self image. That, too, is fluctuating. My thoughts on identity are post-modern, I believe that to some extent we create and re-create our selves constantly. Creating and re-creating our looks is a part of that process. I once bought a red dress in which I look stunning, but which I never wear in public. Why not? Because even though it makes me look good, it does not look like me.
Being photographed in the nude by Sun did not feel strange. I had my layer of makeup on and I chose my own postures. The photographs were taken in my own childhood home, by a childhood friend. By letting her models be in control of their own image, I think that the photographs in this project might show something close to the truth about our body images and selves. At least about how they were in that specific moment of our lives.”
