Big-assed and proud

[serai]

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Leonard Nimoy (yes, that Leonard Nimoy) has recently published a book called The Full Body Project. Nimoy is a lifelong photographer, and has published images of female nudes in the past. This time, he takes on the subject of women with bodies that are normally frowned upon.


Leonard Nimoy's "The Full Body Project" - an exhibit at the R. Michelson Galleries


This is delightful. The women are part of a performance group from Northern California that style themselves "The Original Fat Bottom Revue". They are neither shy nor ashamed of their bodies, and the photos show them laughing, dancing, smiling, doing the can-can. There's one particularly charming piece that is a one-to-one re-enactment of a painting by Henri Matisse, that I would love to have hanging in my home.

The exhibit is also opening tomorrow here in Los Angeles, with a reception and signing. I'm definitely going.


ETA: Here is a wonderful print interview with Nimoy about how he came to do this project, and his evolving ideas about beauty and culture. Do read it; he is a really cool guy!

Comments

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

I've seen that site before - really beautiful!

[serai1.livejournal.com]

Isn't it? It makes me homesick for Santa Cruz, where there's a flourishing women's culture and this kind of pride is commonplace. And in an NPR interview over here, Nimoy makes the point that stress and bad self-image has an enormous amount to do with the health problems that overweight people have. I knew a number of big women there who were in fine fettle, and quite content with themselves. I never felt bad about my body there. Certainly a world away from what it's like here in Los Angeles. *sigh*