The project (im)perfection is about beauty, self-esteem, our view of ourselves and how others see us. It is about partnership and boundaries too.
Born with a handicap, I know how an appearance that deviates from the norm can affect the psyche, confidence and self-esteem. This led me to my project (im)perfection: Everyone has parts and places of their body they don‘t like – exactly like me and my left arm. But it is only my view of my body. How do others see me, how does my partner see me? In most cases, there will be a big difference here. Because what I see as a flaw, others may see as endearing.
My project goes beyond these different perspectives.
I invited models and friends to be portrayed by me behind a glass wall. After this portrait was taken, they had to paint on the glass wall the spots they didn’t like in black as well as the ones they liked in yellow.
After this process I sent the original portrait print to their partner, to mark the spots he or she liked. By combining both drawings with the original print, I got an image that challenges our view of ourselves: A combination of the portrait and two different views of the body. This opens up a completely different view of one‘s own - often unloved - body. “It was a nice experience to know about all the things he likes about me”, one of my models told me after she saw what her friend has drawn on her image.
Mission accomplished!
Here you'll find my Work in Progress Portfolio which I did as a course project in Falmouth:
And just have a look in my video presentation:
