Body Image

    The subject to my collage is body image. I decided to trace a silhouette of a very curvy woman that isn't the ideal skinny model we see on magazines because many people do not appreciate the body they have. they do not admire the curves they are given because society idolizes these skinny Victoria Secret models as the body type and many people feel so insecure when they see those images and some try very hard to convert themselves into these models that they forget that they don't have to be like everyone else. In my collage I have a broken mirror and the reason behind the broken mirror is because many people that have a problem accepting their bodies see this broken person inside of themselves and always want to recreate themselves to someone they aren't. I was that person once. I wanted to go under the knife and fix my body because I was constantly told I was fat even when I weight 160 pounds like I do now. It hurts, and being in front of a mirror sometimes can make you realize that you are perfect the way you are or can make you want to fit into society and try all these methods to become the small waisted person that society keeps pushing on you on TV, and magazines. 

         The reason I  choose body image is because throughout the years even as a child I was made fun of because I was a chubby kid, and even growing up though I wasn't really fat I would still be called "obese" even  by my mother. Even today, my mother calls me fat and obese and yes it makes me feel horrible and it hurts because it is coming from my mother , but I have learned to ignore it and embrace the body I have. When I was in middle school, I was made fun of by my own "friends" and at first I would laugh about it because I would think to myself, "Hey! These are my friends they don't mean any of this," but as the days and months went by everything they would say began to start affecting me. It came to a point that I became depressed because I thought that I was fat and I stopped eating. In that time I stopped eating, my doctors were telling me I had anemia because I wasn't eating the right nutrient I was supposed to. Over the years, I told myself I had to accept who I am because I cannot keep trying to be something I am not. 

      I think this image conveys a message that states be who you are and love yourself no matter what admire who you are and what you have and don't let society tell you how you should look because we are all different. They two artist that influenced my self portrait were Cindy Sherman and Frida Khalo because they are both strong women who portray a similar message and that is to be strong and be yourself because what others think of you truly do not matter. In my collage I used pieces of a magazine, some printed out quotes from my computer, a broken mirror, and pictures of me embracing my body and who I am. This collage represents me because of my story of how my mother wishes I was as skinny as a model and always tells me how I should be looking at myself in the mirror and see how I am getting fatter everyday.