Adipositivity

I just read about this new photo collective called The Adipositivity Project, created to promote size acceptance through, as the website puts it, "a visual display of fat physicality. The sort that's normally unseen." The ultimate goal? Broadening definitions of what it means to be beautiful...

This reminds me of a phenomenally innovative and sensitive photographer I interviewed last year for a story in Women's Health - her name is Holly Sasnett and she takes nude photos of women struggling with eating disorders ranging from anorexia to compulsive overeating. Like The Adipositivity Project, documented by New Yorker Substantia Jones, Sasnett does not include her subjects' faces. Not because they should be ashamed, but because looking at a photo of yourself without your face - or looking at your body in mirror from only the neck-down, for that matter - allows you to take a step back and view your physique as an outside would. One who doesn't live with your insecurities or concerns or fears. I've tried this, and it really works - if I stand on my toilet in the master bathroom, the mirror cuts me off at the head and I see my body in a whole new, more objective light.

I love these photos because they show beauty where people often assume ugliness or regret live. I 'm not necessarily saying I would be comfortable in the exact bodies they inhabit...I'm still on my journey to love the one I have right now. But as The Adipositivity Project states, the women behind these images "are educators, executives, mothers, musicians, professionals, performers, artists, activists, clerks, and writers. They are perhaps even the women you've clucked at on the subway, rolled your eyes at in the market, or joked about with your friends. [And] this is what they look like with their clothes off."

(Photos courtesy of Substantia Jones)

Comments

Awesome!!!!!

I came, I saw, I bought the T-shirt.

I couldn't get the other link to work, but the Adipositivity Project is beautiful, and so full of attitude. I've got an art teacher who will love this. I'm so sorry I missed you on the Today Show.

don't get me wrong, i think it's wonderful that jones sees the beauty in all women, and not just the blonde and tiny. but here's my problem with all of this:
“The photographs here are close details of the fat female form...to coax observers into imagining they're looking at the fat women in their own lives...”
in society, women are already demoted to their individual parts, i.e. commercials and movies and ads that only show a woman's lips or her legs or her breasts, never the whole woman. and it doesn't matter if it's a thin part or a fat part, we're still only seeing fragments of these amazing, talented women. every woman on that site is proud of who she is, even if they were timid, because they all posed for jones in the end. and we should be able to see them as whole people, to see the strength and pride in their faces and not just a roll here or a squishy part there. thin or fat, women should be judged by their character, and not by the sum of their parts.

I like that last pic. That looks like something that might go on a book cover.

A person, like a commodity, needs packaging. But going too far is absolutely undesirable. A little exaggeration, however, does no harm when it shows the person's unique qualities to their advantage. To display personal charm in a casual and natural way, it is important for one to have a clear knowledge of oneself.wow gold A master packager knows how to integrate art and nature without any traces of embellishment, so that the person so packaged is no commodity but a human being, lively and lovely

Ahhh you knew I would adore that!

You know who takes really beautiful photos of nekkid fat chicks? Leonard Nemoy, Dr. Spock. No kidding, look him up....

The pics are beautifully done although I will admit to some discomfort with some of them. Not because of the size of the model but because of the, well to sound like I'm 12, the nakedness of it all. Why does someone have to be naked to be beautiful? I know, I get the idea of the artful nude and I applaud these ladies' courage but I just got comfortable showering in the locker room! I don't think I could ever do nude photos. Not that anyone's asking me;)

Some great points here already - Rebecca's point really got me thinking.

And I agree with Charlotte. We all think that pure beauty has to be undressed, stripped down. But that de-normalises the subjects even more, doesn't it?

TA x

That's wonderful. It's good to see that kind of confidence! And the photographs are done really well too.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I don't think a lot of these bodies look very healthy. Since when do we have to celebrate fat? If these women feel great about their bodies, then more power to them but let's not forget the fact that these body types often have health problems like hypertension, diabetes and osteoarthritis just to name a few.

So beautiful! So... political. We're entering a new era of acceptance of those who may not look like we do, and I think this sort of art is exactly what's needed to fuel that movement. More power to these ladies!

i think it would be so interesting to have a group or discussion forum or something to get at the different ways that women react to pictures like these or holly's. i consider myself to be pretty healthy, for the most part, with a commitment to a healthy body image and, well you know the spiel. And yet I find some of photos -- though clearly beautiful -- a bit difficult to look at. Which makes me a) a little upset with myself and b) wonder how many other women feel similarly, or feel at least something a little different than they might expect to feel.

How wonderful! I've passed this link on to many people...

I had a not completely positive reaction to these photos but couldn't put my finger exactly on why. After reading Rebecca's comment I looked at the photos again and it clicked - I don't like the anonymity of the photos. I just really want to see at least SOME of these women's faces since I think that they are worth looking at as a whole person too. Maybe I just don't have an artistic bone in my body...hmmmm.

Scrumptious!!!

How do I get in front of this chick's camera?!