Brief 2: Contacts for social media photos and new experiments

Ashfashlee- gave me permission to use her images on Instagram! Shares her own collages and images using her own body to fight beauty standards in a collage/riot grrl spirit
Pockyhair- sent me an image of her stretch marks to use
Connie
Becky Nallon- had an existing Instagram documenting her image issue journey, who allowed me to use her images.
Myself

Will not add a filter or maipulate original image in any way to represent truly
Flowers (Free clipart) collaged amongst the images to represent the true natural beauty, variety and growth of their views on themselves. It also gives off a positive visualization which works hand in hand with the project which intends to help people with growth of their self love and body positivity.
The idea came from one of my first blog posts in which I discussed I wanted to photograph people in their favourite clothes, feeling their best, and collaging flowers around them to show their radiance.

Using Bratz dolls variety of hair colours and styles to represent different hair colours/texures etc

Feedback for these were very positive, and those who responded I made sure saw what kind of work I was creating and they all really liked the style used here! We agreed adding words from magazines, some headlines or detail along with the flowers would work such as illustrations or stickers to add more depth. These are developing in to a zine DIY style.

I had considered drawing/painting the bodies themselves but feel the impact is higher for this particular project, using real images of people and dolls from childhood (having more of a subconscious root of body image) having more of an impact on a social media platform.

Social media posts can also set unrealistic expectations and create feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem, the authors wrote. This may explain why Instagram, where personal photos take center stage, received the worst scores for body image and anxiety. As one survey respondent wrote, “Instagram easily makes girls and women feel as if their bodies aren’t good enough as people add filters and edit their pictures in order for them to look ‘perfect’.”
http://time.com/4793331/instagram-social-media-mental-health/

Using this collage technique does not interfere with the body part but emphasises and celebrates it's quirks, in response to the comments people were kind enough to share with me about their body image journeys.