reflections: an exploration of the body and its mind

Reflections: An Exploration of the Body and Its Mind  is a creative project consisting of photographs, interviews, and creative nonfiction writing about individuals, their bodies, body image, and the origins of body image issues within the individual and society. This project involves ten volunteers of different personal and public identities to pose for 36 exposures of film (equalling 360 negatives) and later, participate in an audio recorded interview where the volunteers discuss their relationship with their body. These photographs, interviews, and nonfiction writing samples would be collected and organized into a manuscript.

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According to a 2021 survey completed by the U.K. House of Commons Women & Equalities Committee, 61% of adults and 66% of children feel negatively about their body image most of the time. This number is growing. Also according to the survey, the pandemic significantly impacted this number, as people reported their body image got worse throughout lockdown periods. This type of damage to the psyche is not easily removed – it often follows people for the rest of their life. According to another study conducted by the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, “...the COVID-19 pandemic showed a positive association with disordered eating behaviors among the general population” (McLean, Courtney P. et al). When one pairs the knowledge of this time period, understanding that body image got worse for individuals during the pandemic, with the knowledge that eating disorder behavior increased at the same time, the impacts of this issue becomes clear. 

 

My objective with this project is to discover the array of reasons why there is such a negative connotation around the human body in today’s society. I intend on exploring these reasons, and trying to conclude where the origin of body negativity comes from within both the individual and society. There are two purposes behind this project: the first is personal, and the second is public. I developed with an eating disorder at the age of 17, and am now in recovery—as such, it is a goal of mine to explore body image and understand where my conceptualization of body image bleeds from. Secondly, I want others to come to understand their own relationships with their bodies in a similar way. We all have bodies, and understanding our feelings about them is important.