Is This Perfect?
University of New South Wales, Sydney
September 2018
Do you ever stop and think about how often we are told to change our appearance?
Magazines and advertisements constantly offer tips about how to lose weight “in days,” appear slimmer “instantly,” and hide our “imperfections” without actually knowing anything about us, much less our appearance. This is just one example of body-shaming. For many reasons, we're often more willing to listen to our minds than to trust our bodies. We follow our mind with little hesitation, spending time listening to its assumptions, its lies, and its criticisms. When it comes to thinking about our bodies, however, we easily let our minds dictate our perceptions.
The reason why I've used flowers with portraits is because flowers tend to fade way and wilt really fast just like the idea of beauty as the society doesn't let you be comfortable in your body. A flower is only considered beautiful when it’s fresh and blooming. As soon as it starts losing its fragrance and freshness, it goes in the trash
Our default settings make it easy for us to forget that our thoughts themselves are moulded by our social structures and landscapes. The mind gobbles up unrealistic ideals and projects them onto the body. Knowing what we know about the difficulties we face in becoming comfortable in our bodies, why do we continue to be so harsh? Why are we adding to the pressure?
Sometimes, it is simply because shaming has grown to be so automatic that it becomes difficult to identify the instances in which we are engaging in body-shaming. With the influx of social media use in recent years, body-shaming has become a more common practice. People of all ages and body types are being judged because of their appearance. It’s no secret that almost everybody has been obsessed with their weight lately because of the unrealistic expectations created by media which has taken a toll on people’s self-esteem. It's an often overlooked reality that thinner people also get shamed for being "too skinny," "body obsessed," "looking anorexic." I have decided to talk about this issue as I’ve experienced this myself. I tend to overeat when I’m stressed. Two years back during my thesis year without realizing I’ve been eating more than I usually do, I gained some weight. When I came back to school, there were a lot of eyes staring at me like I’ve committed a crime.
This results in one questioning their physique and finding ways to make it look better through surgeries like tummy tuck, lip fillers, Botox and what not. Whatever one does, is never up to the mark for the society, a person gets talked about if they have allergies, Vitiligo and/or freckles. I have shown a woman with Vitiligo because I personally have been judged for having skin allergies and I know first-hand how it feels to have been looked at differently. I started feeling uncomfortable showing my own skin because people would look at me differently.
