Shelby Young

Beginning from a very young age, I was hyper-aware of my body and how it looked. I was a big kid and I knew it. Occasionally strangers bullied me and even family members made comments that were hurtful. In retrospect, the latter was probably what nurtured most of the negative feelings I had, and still have, about my body. I want to bring a greater awareness to the issues of body image and how it is interconnected with virtually every other part of women’s lives. This is something I hope to reveal by talking with my friends and summarizing their feelings about their bodies. I want to make visible the influence of media, peers, friends and family on body image for these young women, which plays back into a broader context of young women everywhere.

By photographing my nude subjects in nature I am drawing a comparison between their bodies and the natural environment. We tend to depict nature as the ultimate beauty in the world, and we appreciate it for its diversity. So, why don’t we feel the same way about our bodies? Instead of trying to make our bodies the subject of what others and the media tell us is beautiful, we should love the differences we bare. We too are a part of nature, and should view our bodies in the same way in which we feel that nature is wondrous, beautiful and breath-taking.