Last semester I got really involved with a women's empowerment group on campus and I started thinking about how society is very backwards in the way it views women. Now I'm not saying all women need to be held up on a 50 foot pedestal of glory and gold, but I do think women deserve equality and to be treated like people.
Too often women are viewed as objects. They are taught to believe that their worth is based off of their attractiveness. If a woman isn't attractive enough, then she better learn how to use a curling wand and a makeup brush so she can make herself more attractive. It leads to young women feeling trapped in a box of what they "should be" versus what they want to be.
Girls are taught this from a young age and therefor many of the grow up with this mentality that they have to always look perfect so they can be worth something in society. It leads to a mountain of young women with self esteem and body issues; in more extreme cases it can lead to young women with mental illness and eating disorders. For this reason I decided I would use my baby sister to mirror this cultural phenomenon.
I dressed Ariana up in some of her normal clothing because I didn't want her to lose the appearance of being a little girl, but I also caked her face with makeup. The girl is already blessed with long hair which I thought about curling, but I was afraid it would come off as too "Toddlers and Tiaras" for this shoot.
While I wanted to get some more grungy shots inside abandoned buildings (possibly appearing as if she were applying her own makeup in front of some dirty and broken mirror) I didn't have access to those places so I did my best to portray her trying to look perfect surrounded by an imperfect world.
I definitely think this shoot could have gone better, and maybe next time I get to visit home I'll revisit the idea. Ariana is only just now turning 8 years old so I am thankful to still have her youth to play around with in my photo work.
I hope I can keep going out an capturing the world around me, and I hope you enjoy seeing the photos. Hopefully my camera and I will be back to show you our next adventure.
-Allie
If you are working on changing the idea of beauty, why use the makeup and edgy backgrounds? Is the idea to show her true beauty later when you catch her playing, smiling and fresh faced? :)
ReplyDeleteI was going for more of an out-of-place look. For instance you don't often see that sort of thing on little kids except in bad TV shows. It feels really weird to me looking at it because I frequently see this girl covered in dirt and mud just laughing and being young. I do really like the idea of transitioning into showing her in a more natural element though.
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