Beauty: 'Real Beauty' by Jodi Bieber

 

Image Source: http://www.jodibieber.com/index.php?pageID=17&navLay=3

Bieber’s body of work has been very inspiring and brave to challenge the concept of beauty. There has been much speculation to what beauty truly is yet there is no true answer. Everyone has their own view yet the media feeds the ‘fair-skinned, slim and sleek’ look as the typical beauty so we are forced to sallow this perception. Bieber goes against this and wants to show the real life people, not airbrushed but as beauty comes in the majority of the population; she focuses on shooting in her native country: South Africa. It is interesting to see how she addresses various themes such as race and body image in such a conservative nation. Shooting her subjects half-naked shows confident women in their entirety, not hiding their true body and shape. I am particularly drawn to the above photograph as I rarely seen a South Asian woman in just a bra and underwear, let alone being middle aged. This is due to cultural norms that don’t condone showing naked flesh as it conjures negative perceptions on the woman. I like how the woman in this image stands up for Bieber’s ‘Real Beauty’ project and that she looks proud of whom she is. The fact that Bieber shoots the portraits in the sitter’s home gives the viewer a sense of who the person is and makes the project even more personal. The little details such as the blue hanger and flower bed sheet shows how this image is constructed up to point, but the environment seems untouched. Usually I prefer portraits with a shallow depth of field and the background blurred, however in this case the background is as much in the foreground as the sitter is. Though the sitter is conscious of the photographer, in this series the subjects all seem rather relaxed and Bieber’s approach certainly eases any anxiety the women in the photographs had.

Image Source: http://www.jodibieber.com/index.php?pageID=17&navLay=3

As my current project looks at the concept of beauty and the relationship with the media, especially the fashion industry I am enthralled to have come across Beiber’s ‘Real Beauty’ project as her themes confronts the ‘ideal’ beauty and raises questions on what it is. I like how Bieber finds it within and in her interviews she states her findings that ‘most women believe that there is no real perfect body shape, and that beauty is more about being healthy and feeling comfortable in one’s own skin’; this corroborates with my survey I posted on Facebook on what my friends thought beauty in people was. See my survey responses here.

Read an article on Jodi Bieber's work discussing 'Real Beauty' on Visura Magazine.

Useful Links:

Jodi Bieber http://www.jodibieber.com/

British Journal of Photography - 'Sister Show' by Diane Smith http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/profile/1646030/sister

Beauty In Discussion: Valeria Lukyanova - Is this the Real life Barbie doll?

Image source: http://www.geekologie.com/2012/04/look-at-what-youve-done-to-yourself-ukra.php

After reading responses on ‘Katie Price Vs Orlan’ forum on my university photography website^[1] and discussing the concept of beauty I was particularly interested in the case of Valeria Lukyanova, 21, where it is believed she is the ‘real-life’ Barbie. Barbie represents perfection and she is the icon for aspired beauty. Barbie is an American manufactured girls’ doll that launched in March 1959. During this time multiculturalism and globalization was a new concept and isn’t as prominent as it is today yet Barbie still circulates in its millions across the globe. Barbie is supposed to represent the population yet there is only a minority with white skin, blue eyes, blonde hair and is 5’9” tall. Why choose these features to symbolize ‘perfection’ when the world is so diverse? There has been much criticism for the doll’s unrealistic proportions and the damaging effect on females’ body image especially when socializing girls from a young age. Statistics show that ‘if Barbie were an actual women, she would be 5'9" tall, have a 39" bust, an 18" waist, 33" hips and a size 3 shoe.’ ^[2] This would be the case of Lukyanova from Russia who is obsessed with the Barbie ideal. She is dubbed ‘the real-life Barbie’ due to her extensive plastic surgery (including removing two lower ribs), heavy make-up and revealing clothes. Lukyanova is willingly allowing herself to be objectified after posting hundreds of images of herself and her transformation. There has been quite a stir with her as despite the common perception of beauty being of Barbie, when it is seen in real-life there is some backlash. ‘One Twitter user wrote: “She looks not only ugly, but ridiculous.”’ and “A woman with completely perfect features is a boring woman.” ^[2] Despite Lukyanova extreme efforts to achieve ‘perfection’ not everyone believes so thus making the concept of beauty subjective. So this raises the question what is beauty?

What are your views?

References:

1. Various authors; Mycourse forum; published Apr 15 2012; http://mycourse.solent.ac.uk/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=42596 [Accessed 07/05/12]
2. Slayen, Galia; Huffington Post; published Aug 4 2011; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/galia-slayen/the-scary-reality-of-a-re_b_845239.html [Accessed 07/05/12]

3. Evon, Dan; The Inquisitr; published Apr 23, 2012; http://www.inquisitr.com/224402/valeria-lukyanova-model-seeks-to-be-real-life-barbie-doll-photos/#tzIAJXuqFuDQEyKk.99 ‘[Accessed 07/05/12]

Useful Links:
V.E.S.T: What do you think is beautiful? http://nishahaqvisualexploration.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/beauty-your-views-on-whats-beautiful.html

Wikipedia - Barbie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie

The Beauty of Society http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/kmarume/the%20beauty%20of%20society.htm

Daily Mail - Valeria Lukyanova http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2133552/Valeria-Lukyanova-pictures-Real-life-Barbie-seeks-worlds-convincing-doll.html

Beauty In Discussion: What you Think is Beautiful

One module for my Photography degree includes Representation where we have to create a portrait on medium format colour film. I was quite excited about this project as I love portraiture and found printing in the colour darkrooms both rewarding and challenging. For this project I was struggling to find what to base my theme on but after looking at street style and fashion and engaging in the discussion on Orlan and Katie Price I was inspired by the concept of beauty and what we determine is beautiful.

Barbie: The beauty icon

Image Source: http://collider.com/barbie-movie-in-production-because-girls-deserve-brainless-toy-based-features-too/8107/

I began researching the relationship between race and beauty and why it is still uncommon to see dark skinned models on the runway and billboards for example. Being dark skinned myself looking into this idea made me see myself in a different light and made me realize I was beautiful too, with my curves and Bengali ethnicity. I was appalled to see the media especially advertising encouraging lightening skin products and this is a billion dollar industry in Asia and Africa. This advert in particular made me want to shake society's narrowed minds on their perception of beautiful and that blonde hair and white skin doesn't equate to beauty. I am not saying that people with these characteristics are not beautiful but the fact they are seen as superior due to these qualities regardless of the beauty inside.

Video source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahdvo70fRhk

In response to this I decided to post a question on Facebook to my friends and see what they thought beautiful was. My question:

'Just wanted to ask you a question in regards to my photography project about the idea of a beautiful person. You can write as much/little as you want. I'm doing a mini survey.

What is your concept of beauty in a multicultural society?'

This is what they responded:

beauty in my mind is the pursuit of an ideal rather than the ideal itself. nobody sees the same idea of beauty because everyone has a differnet idea of their ideal situation. whever its how someone acts and behaves or just pure cosmetics. i think beaty is purely the human urge to be better and climb higher in the social rank, we see people as beautiful because we want to be more like them

Cool, Well as regards to beauty I feel that I'ts every where not just in people and not in looks. What makes a beautiful person is not just the way they look, but how they act. Are they trust worthy, kind, funny things like this make a beautiful person to me. As far as people are, natural is beautiful

Confidence obvs can make anyone attractive if there not afraid to be who you really are

I think you can find beauty in almost everything. But regarding people I think being your natural self is beautiful

Everyone is beautiful in some way or another whether it's skin deep or their personality. 'Beauty' has unfortunately fallen into the grips of a commercial stereotype, so unless you are a certain height, weight, skin colour, etc, many people feel that they are not beautiful if they don't meet this ridiculous criteria

Beauty can be found in anything! With people, I think being able to believe in yourself & express that in a way you feel is right is beautiful - though music, art, your personal style, etc. You need to feel comfortable in your own skin.

Without reading all of the posts above me, I'd say that everyone is beautiful. Everyone defines what makes a beautiful person differently, so we can't generalise to anything specific.

In the words of David Bailey: no one is the most beautiful woman in the world

well i know its said that symmetry makes a beautiful face - if you're talking solely about looks but im not sure how far i agree with that. But i certainly think confidence is key, and also to look healthy - maybe that comes from natural instinct in seeking a healthy partner to have kids with - survival of the fittest and all that! (no pun intended...)

well considering the aspect of beauty, it's in the eye of the beholder i guess, as for the context of multicultural societies and beauty, i would agree that yes aspects of their race, their religion, characteristics can be beautiful, how many times do we see in national geographic the tribes of the Amazon, the slums of India, etc etc and yet all are portrayed in ways that are beautiful, though perhaps in real life are not instantly beautiful, we can appreciate it after thought

Beauty is like art, we all view it differently. It is easy to assume your question refers to people and faces however beauty can be seen in all aspects of society, albeit a multicultural one. A baby suckling on its mother; loving couples hugging/kissing; different races together playing and enjoying each others company; to me these are all images of beauty. To appreciate beauty in a multicultural society, one has to first embrace multiculturalism and what its diverse culture can offer. Some women who wear a hijab for instance can have the most beautiful eyes, equally a Jewish man wearing a kippah could have a beautiful smile or Africans and Caribbeans have a beautiful way of expressing themselves and so on. Yes, to get a real feel of beauty within a person one needs to know what their heart and character are like. As this is not always possible, what we see at first glance depicts what we view as beauty. The fashion industry have taken on different aspects of global culture to introduce and set new trends thus creating a new wave of image and style to beauty. Beauty is all around us and in a multicultural society it continues to grow. Sadly, humans have prejudices and preferences and sometimes the beauty that is portrayed is not always noticed.

im saying that natural beauty is better

I'll be covering other issues and artists that look at the concept of beauty so watch this space!