The Dissection of Women’s Bodies: Reclaimed
These works were all created from one reference photo of my model’s body (thank you to muse and fellow feminist, Bella). I wanted to dissect every bit of her and paint her in different and colorful ways. I wanted to treat each part of her with the reverence that all female bodies of all sizes, colors and abilities, deserve.
I grew up in the 90’s, when it was acceptable, even normal, to constantly shame women for their bodies and sexuality. Britney Spears was fat because her thighs touched at the top. Jessica Simpson was a cow for weighing 130lbs. Grown men working as paparazzi, would lay down on the curb to get the infamous upskirt photos of underage girls working as actresses, then sell them to magazines who would slut shame the girls for these same pictures. Janet Jackson was cancelled when we witnessed a half second glimpse of her nipple on live TV. Meanwhile, Justin Timberlake went on to a successful career with no repercussions and Youtube was created off so many people searching for photos of Janet’s bare breast, that the founders of the app became billionaires. "Heroine chic" was a real term, Oprah peddled us Weight Watchers and we had no Lizzo coming to save us. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith sexualized his own teenage daughter in a music video. Commentators at the Olympics regularly made casual conversation about which female gymnasts, ice skaters and even soccer players were overweight. Serena and Venus Williams’ beautiful muscular bodies were shamed for being too masculine. As children we were weighed in front of our entire class, then made to feel bad about our BMI’s in the name of the Presidential Fitness Test. The emotional violence was relentless and inescapable in every single ambit of our lives, and it’s something I have worked my entire life to undo.
What I made aims to reclaim that same scrutiny, dissection and violence, and turn it into something loving and beautiful and tender. I hope that someday, all women can see their own whole selves through this lens.
