Saturday, May 24, 2008

art and the blessed variety of women's form throughout the ages

This great presentation was created by a talented french graphic artist CALI REZO



This work depicts the evolution of the female form using art!

I sure wished I had had this tool in my pediatric and adolescent office when I was working on art and healing projects with teens with body image destortions and eating disorders!
Get this,I used to use long pieces of examining table paper which my patient and I would put on the floor and then we would trace his or her body shape. Most often they had determined it would have been much bigger than it turned out to be in reality. Then they would take the paper tracing home and creat a collage within the space using words,objects or colors which later we would discuss.

It was very rewarding work for both of us-They discovered their unconscious symbols by using them to create a rich,detailed mosaic which portrayed their inner beauty.

They told their story in a visual way full of textures and subliminal meanings and they learned to honor their own stories within their own forms!
It was a wonderful collaborative connection and made me feel grateful to be witnessing a healing they brought about for themselves.

Let's face it the mass media is still pushing stick figures forms,prepubital at that! so when I came across this piece by CALI REZO I thought hooorah someone has taken the time and used her talents to give women a wake up call that no, the beauty of the female form has varied over time and within cultures.

It has been altered by the socio-economics and the art and design of the times!
Here the artist shares that fullness and curvatiousness of a women was initially related to her strength and potentially a sign of fertility!

So lighten up , it may be bathing suit season soon but, let's reframe,after all choose any form and it relates to a work or period of art!

4 comments:

  1. Oh, I really love your approach with teens who had body image distortions and eating disorders. My niece, 14, has bulimia and I so wish she had done something like you describe while she was in treatment, as she has a very creative side. I think honestly, almost all of us women could benefit from such an exercise, even now! I know I could!

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  2. I was facinated by your photo you included in this post. It's very interesting.

    (I am lacking some eloquent words here.)

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  3. Really beautiful post. Thank you for sharing the work of Cali Rezo with us. So powerful!

    I forget the name of the artist who did it, but there was a series of works in which this artist created bodies that would have had to exist in different periods. It was so fascinating. So, it was how the naked body would have had to look as prescribed by the fashions. One body would be the impossible waif of the 1920's and the next body would be from the 1700's with a dramatically cinched in waist and huge hips. There was a 1950's body that had tiny waist and pointy breasts. The show was so powerful in showing that these outer standards of beauty are impossible and all that women go through to achieve them.

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  4. What a great idea about tracing the body shapes and having patients take them home and create collages. It's so rare for young patients to find a doctor to listen and understand the body issues they face (or that others around them emphasize).

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