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We live in a largely superficial world that makes it very hard to love the skin we live in. It’s strange though how we oscillate in our perceptions of nudity and exposure of skin, from the hyper-sexualisation and objectification of women in the media to the regressive moral policing of everyday citizens. It’s unsurprising then that our view of our own selves becomes so skewed. There has been a shift in the narrative though, as art becomes the medium of conversation and experimentation when it comes to the body positivity movement.
While human anatomy is yet to find complete acceptance in the larger Indian art world, there are young artists out there who are continuing to explore its beauty, shape and shadows in all its forms. We decided to poke through the creative mind of Roshni Kumar, a fashion photographer whose work is defined by bold colours and even bolder ideas. Through her on-going series titled ‘BARE’, she encourages people to celebrate their bodily differences instead of being so driven by the beauty standards set by society.
Having been a victim to body shaming herself in the past, Kumar addresses body positivity in a lot of her conceptual shoots. “I’d like to help anyone I can. With our beauty standards increasing along with the number of filters we use to mask our ‘imperfections’, I found it absolutely essential to do a series to show diversity in beauty and how our ‘flaws and imperfections’ are actually natural, part of who we are and doesn’t need to be hidden or masked,” Kumar tells Homegrown. “I wanted to do a series that highlights the textures, forms, colours of the body in its purest natural form with no edits.”
Different types of bodies, hair, features and gender all play muse to Kumar in this series, who herself gets in front of the camera in one lovely shot. The same can be said of every freckle, stretch mark, dimple, mole, roll, fold and bit of cellulite that are photographed in their natural state. It’s hard to imagine people at this much ease while being photographed nude or semi-nude, but Kumar says that while she was nervous about the participants being comfortable in front of the camera and then letting her upload the images online, the biggest challenge for her has been censorship. “Some of the most beautiful pictures of BARE cannot be uploaded to social media because of these highly unreasonable guidelines,” she comments.
Not everyone would be comfortable with images of their bodies being put up on social media, a space where trolls indulge in a hate fest fuelled by unwarranted criticism. Kumar shares that the reception to BARE, by those that have been a part of it and those who view it has been anything but hateful. “I got great responses from the muses themselves, on how comfortable and liberating it felt. Friends and family have also been supportive about this. I’ve received so many messages from unknown people saying how this helped them accept themselves or see their body differently, and that honestly made me the happiest girl in the world as that was the whole intention of the series,” she says.
‘BARE’ is an on-going series by Roshini Kumar, you can view more from the series and her work on her website and Instagram.
All photographs have been published with permission from the photographer. View more of Roshini Kumar’s work here.
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