Jiayun Liao

"Who defines the ‘perfect’ body?"

Section MS7, Ibiye Camp

Keywords: photography, photogrammetry, feminist methodologies, body, collage

The starting point for this project was my own experience of wearing tight tops. When wearing tight, body-showing clothes, I was concerned about what people around me thought about my body. When I talk to others about this issue, I find that many women share the same anxiety as I do. This anxiety and lack of confidence about body made me think about what was causing this mentality and how to relieve this anxiety.

When you constantly receive information about beauty from your environment, whether actively or passively, one's definition of beauty is thus influenced by one's surroundings. The most representative example is advertising, when the market employs models with 'perfect' bodies to showcase clothes, it in effect communicates the standard of 'perfect' bodies to customers. When customers shop, they often compare themselves to the models to see if a piece of clothing looks 'perfect' on their own bodies. When there is a gap between their own body and the 'perfect' body of the model in the advert, anxiety and lack of confidence arises.

I question those advertisements, use this project to urge people to against body shaming and maintain a healthy body and positive mindset. Just be yourself!

Using the collected resources I change the targeted advertisements. This builds a virtual reality mobile application. Using the phone application I to record the journey from the entrance to the shopping centre to each of the targeted advertisements. Recording the interaction of people walking past these ads and virtual reality objects and their reactions to my shots.