The exhibition intends to build a reflection that comes from analyzing the dialogue between two works of art. The artists Anya and Judith analyze the topics of the real body and the lack of acceptance and the passing of time from different perspectives yet putting across the same underlying message.
The bodies are models to construct in today´s society, a sort of puzzle that takes as a reference its own body and beauty elements we put on it. The bond between women and this objectified universe acts as a parallel reality in the light of Anya´s beauty illusion.
The artist Judith deals with the topic of stereotypes associated with obesity as a curse, and the feeling of exclusion for not the lack of acceptance of this body size. Also, she works with the image that mirrors reflect and the tyranny of the image shown which is not most likely to be the ideal self-image. This situation leads in many cases to women´s denial of their own identity by not accepting their own body image.
In an image culture the real and natural body is left aside and everything is done to modify it, mold it and deny it. Sociologist Susan Sontag says that some images are worth seeing, therefore worthy of being photographed and others are not, this concept is transferred to the body in this case, some are worth looking at and others not according to society’s views.
Women are interested in determine how they look, what they should show or not. In this way they are influenced by society´s stereotypes.
The digital retouch is currently used in visual representations and self-representations made by most people and in turn people are exposed to these improved and perfect images. This influences the way in which people perceive perfection. Looking for perfection can be dangerous and condition people´s perception about themselves and the others.
The stereotypes of beauty function as a corset for women and they limit their natural bodies to fit into this corset of perfection. Inside it, the thin, the wrinkleless, the young are stereotypes that fit into this pattern. The beauty industry works with this idealized model of beauty and for this reason they sell ¨magical¨ products that promise women to fulfill their desires and illusions of this unattainable beauty. On the other hand, this painful search for perfection leads women to non-acceptance and self-destruction of their bodies which do not resemble the idealized type.
In a post-capitalist world, women´s body is also an item of consumption. Something that can be sold, observed and has a value in the marketplace. These bodies are fragmented, standardized, uniformed similar to an assembly-line produced product. These ideal bodies do not give space to difference. The bodies that do not fit into the pattern are considered deviant and out of place.
The social media contribute to perpetuate and promote these idealized models of beauty. Thus, perpetuating the status quo instead of challenging it. What is more, this status quo contributes to the increasing narcissism in the image society.
Anya and Judith´s both works of art reflect the embarrassment caused by the perception of women´s natural bodies which seem to reflect an image different from the idealized model.
Judith Le Roux
