Author: Rodolfo Antonio Salido Benítez

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Class: Camera Tech: Analog Futures

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Completion Date: July 27, 2016

 

Style: Black & White photography. 11x17" Prints

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Materials: Printed media

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Through this series of photographs I wanted to extract beauty in what is formally considered a deformity. By doing this I wanted to praise imperfections and non-conforming body types in a world that drowns in imagery of “perfect bodies” and beauty standards that are so elevated, they have long surpassed reality.

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I believe that living with a non conforming body can have a serious impact on an individual's self esteem, confidence, and ability to excel socially. Through my work I want to empower individuals that face these issues by pushing them to notice the beauty in the uniqueness of their bodies and to embrace imperfection as a source of aesthetic admiration. I also want the general public to engage in the active discourse of this topic and not to avoid it because of political correctness and fear of body shaming.

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The visual components of the photos superficially resemble commercial photography but the tight compositions and unique angles intend to abstract the subject to soft organic contours. The photos feature the sloping shapes of the human body and the compositions depict the chest deformity as a subject through different stylistic approaches that push towards depictive ambiguity. Through this technique, I wish to force the audience to appreciate the subject matter for what it is but also in a non representative way. The series blatantly focuses on the shapes of the pigeon chest in order to highlight how they can sometimes be hard to ignore for both the individual that lives with them, as he/she is likely to be highly self conscious about them, and for people that surround him, because they are something unique and rare.