/ 20 November 2008

Comfortable skin

Staff Photographer
Staff Photographer

My new body of work, entitled Real Beauty, has been inspired by a number of events, the primary being my own life.

My forties have brought a feeling of more comfort within my own skin than when I was younger, even though my body shape has shifted dramatically. This project is an extension of a Dove billboard advertising campaign in London showing ordinary women in their underwear advocating and speaking up for “real beauty”.

Advertising campaigns don’t usually draw my attention, but this one did. A model sitting next to me on the way from London to Paris emphasised the extent to which Photoshop is used to enhance beauty. She was not in the least bit concerned about the rings under her eyes, as these imperfections would easily be erased after her photo-shoot. A BBC radio documentary spoke about an increase in the cases of black anorexic women in South Africa, as the full-figured body that was once more favoured is no longer as desirable as Western body shapes.

I felt a strong need to create a body of work that goes against what the media has depicted as beautiful. Even within a complexed society such as South Africa, across all communities women hold unneccesary perceptions of self-doubt about themselves and their beauty from an early age. My work deals with reality — no photoshop has been used to remove blemishes, scars, cellulite or any other form of “imperfection” — but it also touches on fantasy.

The photographic shoot was a collaboration between me and each woman, whom I photographed at their homes. The setting within their surroundings was my choice, but each woman’s pose was pretty much self-directed. I wanted each woman to project her personality or her fantasy into her shoot. The shoot created a space for each woman to explore her own identity in relation to beauty and to live for a few hours in an environment of fantastic elements.

One of the issues that came to the fore in Real Beauty was that, in general, South Africa is conservative as a nation. At times I felt people thought I was recruiting women for a pornographic shoot. I did not discriminate against anyone who approached me. I photographed each and every woman. Three main reasons that people gave for saying no to being photographed (besides body privacy rights) were: their husbands wouldn’t agree to it, religious views and feeling uncomfortable with their body shapes. Most of the women who participated in the shoot did so because they believed in the project and supported my concept of Real Beauty.

A second issue that arose from the images was the different belief systems held. Very thin and tall women might be perceived by their communities as being sick, possibly with HIV/Aids, and more full-figured women as healthy. In other communities thin women are often more desirable.

From the interviews I carried out most women believe there is no real perfect body shape, placing more emphasis on being healthy and feeling comfortable in one’s own skin. The general trend was more accepting of both thinner and curvaceous women, but less accepting of the ultra-thin models we see in the media. It is said that Batswana and amaXhosa women are the most beautiful — the lighter your skin, the more beautiful you are.

The common ground for my work is that both I and the women I photographed wanted to make a stand for Real Beauty.

Jodi Bieber’s Real Beauty will open at the Goodman Gallery on November 20. It runs until December 12