RACCONTI DEL CORPO
2020 – ongoing
In this ongoing series of portraits, I aim to promote body neutrality by showing, with natural, ethical and intimate pictures, that beauty goes beyond the narrow beauty standards and aesthetic canons.
The main goal of this project is to empower individuals to recognize the beauty in themselves and to level up the perception of their self worth, by creating a safe space where I promote acceptance and visibility for all bodies, supporting a better body image environment.
With this project I want to show how easy it is to think of not falling within the beauty regulations, to feeling like an outcast and the steps that people like my models took to understand that they are more than a body.
It is the essence of their inner self that becomes visible in their gaze, expression, and attitude that support their uniqueness and beauty. Actually, this is what makes each of them amazing and shows that the body is only a part of their identity which is defined by their spirit and inner self.
“One year ago I stopped shaving, because I found it so annoying or agitating that every time I bought shaving cream or razors I would be giving money to some old white guy who’s already super rich. And I also know that women have to shave is made up so that shaving companies can make more money and that’s why they decided to shame women for body hairs. So I stopped shaving, and it made me super insicure about it. Because I was so used to clean bodies, smooth, it’s been linked to femininity to be smooth and silky. I didn’t dare to wear skirts without panties, as I also think I am pretty hairy thanks to my dad, I thought people were gonna se and be disgusted. I was also having thoughts like “Does it look nasty, or not groomed or like I am not taking care of my body?’ But of course this was all in my head. But it really got to me. Also about my armpits, when I am in public I’m insicure about it. But in my room I like it, I feel like it suits me”
“If I think about me while growing up, I never really had a problem with myself. But 1 always felt insecure about things that other people had to say. It is really weird that peoples opinion can change the perspective of yourself. That really hurt back in the time. I noticed when I grew up that my body, my eczema, my hairy body, my hair, they are just part of me and I don’t wanna feel sad about these things. They are so unique. The thoughts that other people were having about me, about the way I look, I didn’t feel I could have those thoughts about someone else, so why let them influence me? I don’t feel that any one is ugly or looking wrong. So why should I think that of myself because of what someone else said? Then I decided, I just don’t want to care about these things anymore.”
“I love this feeling that I actually own my body, it is my choice what I do with it, who sees it, why, when, how. Just the idea that I am the one and only that’s actually in charge of that”
“I just have to accept the fact that this is my face and sometimes it’s really good days and sometimes bad days. That’s the thing about hormonal acne. I also think that it’s also kind of a gift that your body is telling you through your skin that you have an issue inside. Because if I didn’t have the acne I would not let go of the spiral of course but I wouldn’t also step forward to go to therapy I think. And that’s also a good thing about it that your body works and that your body pushes this poison out of your skin. But it took a while for me to accept it because I also had days when I spent four hours on YouTube to find videos and get remedies to get rid of it, food wise but also skincare wise. I had an whole box with a collection of skincare products. But now I downsized it and things are getting better than before.”
“I was always the bigger one in my class. I got bullied for the fact that I was fat, big, heavy or whatever. But now I realize I was a super beautiful kid. I am just perfect the way I am, and I really appreciate my body for what it does now. Unfortunately my mom didn’t have a body that worked for her. She was really sick since I was 9 years old and eventually died 3 and a half years ago. She really felt left alone by her body, she couldnit count on her body, she wasn’t able to go anywhere and to feel good in her body. And I am.”
“To define a body merely as skinny or fat is superficial and ignorant of the capacity to what bodies do for us daily in order to try and keep us alive and moving. Respect your body and someone elses and do not erase the priority of well being which is far more important. Sometimes it will feel like seeking what will keep us stable, sane and healthy may take us an absolute lifetime to find, but we must learn to take it one day and one step at a time and this ofcourse will mean something different for everyone. A body is not and will never be a one size fits all. We should all encourage each other to seek and embrace our well being a bit more. Be kind and value each other and may you always aim for the soul.”
“My skin disease, psoriasis, started when I was 15, when I was just in puberty, I was really sick and it just broke out. I hated my body, I hated myself. I wanted to rip my skin off my body and just use another one. It is kind of a plece of clothes that you want to put on and take off. Now at the moment I feel very comfortable with my body. I think I’m in a part of my life where I accept a lot of my self, I feel very connected with myself and that’s something special because I spend a lot of time alone, because I just enjoy spending time with my-self. I think the most I can learn it’s not always coming from people, but also just from myself. For example with writing and doing art, there’s nothing else in my life that I wanna do more then doing arts.”
“My name is Kim. I think that it started very young to have my parents call me fat, or other people call me fat. It really brought a scope to my appearance in general. I started dieting before I even hit puberty and I think that overtime I developed a really unhealthy relationship with food and also with the medias. I felt I could never attain the kind of body that people around me would have. I think throughout seeing so many people who just don’t care, I definitely got so much self esteem as well. And it also made me really want to see myself. Because I am not only being perceived a certain way by different people but I am also perceiving myself through a certain set of glasses. So maybe if I lift that cloud over my self I will also leave room for other people to perceive me, my body and my gender expression in a better way, because I am allowing myself to perceive my real self”
“I can remember for example during swimming class, I loved swimming, I was a good swimmer as well. As a kid I was overweight, and very overweight certain years. One of the years in the swim team I was definitely overweight and I didn’t like it. But yeah, I loved swimming, it was just a really tough time getting into the pool every single morning and to shut off that comparing thought, just to stop comparing and not and feel bad about it, because you shouldn’t feel bad about it”
“When I was little, and I think in my whole life, I was so insecure about my appearance. You can literally name one thing and I was insecure about it. I talk about it with my parents now and we just laugh so hard because it feels so useless. Literally every little part of my body I hated it, I thought it was so ugly. Now I came to the point that I am not that insecure anymore and I am super happy with it. For example I am happy that I can do this shoot because I wouldn’t even take off my shirt when I was younger. I think it’s also because of growing up of course but it’s also because I am surrounded by so many loving people.”