Standards

A childhood friend from Anchorage, Mitch Kitter, took these. (Click for larger images) I've watched the evolution of his photography over the years - just online, sadly - but it's been very cool to witness how he's grown as an artist. He's got the skill, for sure, but what I love the most are his concepts. His subject matter is edgy, thought provoking, and sometimes controversial...how art should be. Check out some of his work when you get a chance: www.propagandaak.com.

This trio specifically grabbed my attention. First of all, I love how they have sort of an aged, dirty look to them, and the angles he used in the first two makes them very "real"...like you're a fly on the wall. But the concept he portrays here is what I really love.

The pictures of models covering the mirror while she scrutinizes her own body...I think that type of comparison is something most women are all too familiar with. Yet it's heartbreaking to see it from the outside looking in...seeing the ridges of her spine and the outline of her ribs...you want to grab her and shake her out of it. Tell her to stop, you don't need to change! But we all do the same thing...

And the second one. Have you ever heard of a sorority hazing "technique" (for lack of a better term) in which guys (and girls too) take a sharpie to pledges' bodies, highlighting the areas that are supposedly fat or ugly? I cannot even IMAGINE the psychological damage that must cause. It makes me sick to think people would do that to someone, and almost as sad that women of all ages mentally do it to themselves...

Striving to have the perfect body is not something new, really...but the means have become much more dangerous and extreme in the last several decades as the ante has been upped by the media and celebrities. Not to mention the pressure we put on ourselves. But with so many options available, it's becoming so mainstream to "get a little work done." Go get a few injections of Botox on your lunch break! Just had a baby? Well obviously you're going in for a tummy tuck and a "vaginal rejuvenation" surgery....riiiight? The post-40 boob job - almost as routine as a mammogram.

It's seen as normal to pick apart our bodies and see them as imperfect, ugly, needing to be fixed and constantly improved upon. Why do we allow the media and celeb culture to set these standards for us? Granted, some print magazines like Glamour are really making an effort to include "plus sized" models in their pages. Remember "the woman on page 194"? It was a small photo in the corner of a page of a very normal sized woman - but in the pages of a fashion magazine, it was so unheard of to publish a photo of a model bigger than a size 2. (FYI she's a size 12-14 - which I believe is the American average). The response was overwhelmingly positive, so Glamour decided to instate a "normal sized model" policy...in some of their pages. Others still feature deathly thin models, but hey...gotta applaud their effort thus far. That's a lot more than other magazines are doing. Here's the gorgeous girl who caused such an uproar:


Read more about it here. Soooo much to write about this subject, but it's bedtime...more ranting to come.