Painting a Real Image of Unrealistic Body Standards

Leicester-based body painter, Emma Fay, created her new series ‘Ridiculous' alongside creatives Juliette Burton and Adam Pearson. The new project questions how certain terminology may be affecting our mental health and how we perceive body image.

Emma said: "'Ridiculous' is a comment on how the human body is portrayed in society today. It draws on the somewhat senseless terminology that media culture has introduced into our everyday conversations

"Phrases such as ‘trout pout,’ ‘muffin top’ and ‘camel toe’ have become acceptable descriptions for the body and play a detrimental role in view of our own self-worth and how we judge others.

"The artwork aims to highlight the hilarity of these commonplace phrases and encourage a more considered and educated approach to describing and viewing the human form."

"The artwork aims to highlight the hilarity of these commonplace phrases and encourage a more considered and educated approach to describing and viewing the human form."

The 30-year-old artist said: "Body shaming has become commonplace in society through advertising, social media and the press; quite disturbingly, this has also filtered down to our everyday conversations and has increasingly become an influential cause of mental health issues.

"I worry that the body is now commonly portrayed in a superficial manner that is both unrealistic and unattainable. Through focussing on flaws, we seem to have forgotten how to celebrate the body.

"The artificial personas we now aspire to be are putting additional stress on our mental states.”

Emma’s work focuses on painting the literal imagery of the phrases onto the referred body part. This approach makes the viewer take a step back and question the relevancy of a thrown-around phrase.

She said: "I was keen that the work remained sensitive to the subject matter whilst showing the hilarity of the phrases; it took some thought and consideration about how best to portray the words.

"Also, as with all my work, I faced some challenges with regards to painting on such an unusual canvas. The placing of a 2-D image on a 3-D form is complicated.

"It is a very organic process, often with me adapting and developing designs as I paint. I find it very inspiring to see how initial concepts evolve once I start working on the human canvas.”

Emma hopes this humorous, yet powerful, series of images will be seen as a positive influence in the changing of our perception of body image.

She said: "The portrayal of the body in today's media culture is a subject matter that I am keen to raise awareness of, and I hope the series encourages more educated conversations about the way in which we appreciate our forms.”

‘Ridiculous’ is on at Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester from Saturday 29th January to Sunday 5th February.