INSPIRING STORIES: How Self-Portraits Reveal the Truth About Jen Davis' Body Image

I am not an advocate of being skinny but from time immemorial I have always admired being fit and healthy plus naturally, I  Iovvvve to be stylish and the fashion industry generally, makes it almost impossible for a big chic to be stylish…Oh, you do really need to try hard to gather your stylish pieces while the skinny chics can pick just about any fabulously stylish item on the rack without batting an eye from the high street shops to the high end ones. Although being 'big' in the African sense, is beautiful, we need to be careful when it begins to gradually affect us physically, psychologically, socially and eventually, medically (obesity).

Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems. A variety of diseases (heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis) results from obesity.

People are considered obese when their body mass index (BMI), a measurement obtained by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the square of the person's height in meters, exceeds 30 kg/m. Obesity is most commonly caused by a combination of excessive food energy intake, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility, although a few cases are caused primarily by genes, endocrine disorders, medications or psychiatric illness. Evidence to support the view that some obese people eat little yet gain weight due to a slow metabolism is limited; on average obese people have a greater energy expenditure than their thin counterparts due to the energy required to maintain an increased body mass.

Dieting and physical exercise are the mainstays of treatment for obesity. So we need to watch it as much as possible to stay healthy and wealthy.

In this post, Photography student and Brooklyn native Jen Davis was hanging out on the beach with her friends on a sunny day in 2002 when she decided to snap a photo of herself. After she developed the roll of film, Davis was stunned at the image which showed her looking uncomfortable in a one-piece swimsuit while her friends lounged in bikinis. From then on, Davis, now 34, began documenting her life in a series of photos called "Self-Portraits", snapping her most personal moments. "I had never really photographed myself but that beach shot made me realize that I had to step in front of the camera," she says. "I needed to look at myself." The result is an 11-year documentation of Davis' life, including her 110-pound weight loss transformation with Lap-Band surgery. She's also working on a forthcoming photography book (2014).

See some of Davis' more revealing photos below...

Purity: "I got out of the shower and saw the water droplets on my body and it was a very intimate moment," says Davis. "At that point, I was trying to understand intimacy and my own sexuality. My face isn't even in focus here; it's all about the flesh and water."

Conforming: "My body is getting bigger and my clothes are tighter," says Davis. "Putting on pants was so uncomfortable. I wanted to see tension instead of feeling it."

4 a.m. "I took this one night after going out with my friends who were all in relationships and I came home alone. 4 a.m. is a lonely hour," says Davis.

Fantasy: "The guy in this photo is my roommate. I wanted to know what it felt like to have a guy desire me," says Davis. "Notice that I'm directly looking at the camera. I want to be seen."

Untitled: "I'm doing laundry which is totally mundane but I'm actually exposing myself because I'm hanging my underwear, such an intimate item of clothing," says Davis. "It forces people to look at the large size, which contrasts with the pretty color and silk material."

Untitled: "It took me a while to set up this shot," says Davis. "I took a beautiful setting—color, soft light-—and contrasted it with a body that's not conventionally beautiful. The girl in the painting is even looking at me."

Maxwell Street: "This was a food stand people would go to after class. I was trying to capture how uncomfortable it was for me to order food in public and have people judge me on the types of food I put into my body," says Davis. 

Steve and I: "This represents post-intimacy, a time when you're supposed to feel relaxed and happy. But the expression on my face and the blanket I'm wrapped in expresses my discomfort," says Davis.

Untitled: "This photo series inspired me to change my body," says Davis. "I found myself wanting to live in a smaller body so I decided to get Lap-Band surgery and joined the gym. In this photo, I'm looking down at my body which is rapidly downsizing. I also wore white underwear and a white tank top which matches the stark, white walls. It's very institutional and represents the body as an object."...

Untitled: "In the previous beach shot, I'm surrounded by my friends," says Davis. "In this new photo, I've lost quite a bit of weight and am surrounded by strangers which represent me being out in the world and functioning. I'm not covered up anymore."

Untitled: "This is my new boyfriend Aldo," saysDavis. "He doesn't live in Brooklyn and this is us saying goodbye; it's a very close and intimate moment. With Aldo, I realized that I was capable of love and acceptance. I had been searching for this in my life and in my work."

So that is it. The choice is yours and I imagine  the time is now 'cos time waits for no woman.

Ciao...

Mahogany!

Credits: All photos by Jen Davis, Yahoo Shine!, Wikipedia