Reflections is a creative project consisting of photographs, interviews, and creative nonfiction writing about individuals, their bodies, body image, and the origins of body image issues within the individual and society. The project involves volunteers of different personal and public identities to pose for 36 exposures of black & white film for me and later, participate in an audio recorded interview where we discuss their relationship with their body. These photographs, interviews, and nonfiction writing samples are being collected and organized into a manuscript.

My objective with this project is to discover the array of reasons why there is such a negative connotation around the human body in today’s society. I intend on exploring these reasons, and trying to conclude where the origin of body negativity comes from within both the individual and society. There are two purposes behind this project: the first is personal, and the second is public. I developed with an eating disorder at the age of 17, and am now in recovery—as such, it is a goal of mine to explore body image and understand where my conceptualization of body image bleeds from. Secondly, I want others to come to understand their own relationships with their bodies in a similar way. We all have bodies, and understanding our feelings about them is important.

Reflections will be completed and presented at WMU in April 2025. More information on the complete work will be announced shortly before then.