Healing Body Image Issues Through Fine Art Nudes (Claire)
When I asked Claire, a Denver-based sales rep, why she wanted to participate in our #LoveYourBodyNow Project she said:
“I don’t put anything in my body that I haven’t had some dialogue in my head about. Should I have a second cup of coffee or not? Because there’s caffeine in it. Should I have water instead? Can I have a second tangerine or will that be too much sugar?
“I’ve been chasing the same twenty to thirty pounds since college, and the effort and exhaustion of the things I say to myself is crazy-making.”
Claire says her personal life has never been better.
She’s recently married a man who adores her. Her career is on the upswing and she has a wonderful relationship with her teenaged children. But, she says, “my body image stuff is the last heavy rock I need to look under.”
In the last year, Claire’s internal negative-body-talk has gotten louder, she thinks, because her father passed away.
She feels, in laying her father to rest she would also like to lay her body image issues to rest …
“You’re kind of a little tank,” Claire’s dad informed her when she was 8 years old.
“His words were confusing to me,” Claire says. “I was not a fat little girl. At all. I knew a couple of girls in our school who were overweight and I was not overweight (…) I had a little tummy, as little girls do.”
When I ask Claire how her dad’s words affected her she replies: “From that moment I became self-conscious and began to feel like I was less than, or something was wrong with me. It planted the seed in me that I was fat.”
When puberty hit and Claire neared 100 lbs. she worried she’d go over that mark.
Her worry was compounded when a dance friend pointed out that Claire’s thighs touched when her legs were together.
(Author’s Aside: Has it always been a crime to have one’s thighs touching? Is this a thing? I suppose there’s something to it, based on the recent Target photoshop debacle.)
By the time high school rolled around, Claire said girls her age were comparing their numbers on the scale, especially the girls in her dance class.
“There were lots of body comparisons in dance culture. Whose body was changing. Who was staying slender and who was gaining weight.
“So I’d have a Tab and an apple for lunch. I didn’t want to be seen eating anything too substantial.”
Concurrently, Claire’s dad, at the time an avid runner, suggested that she, her mother and he “lean down” on the Scarsdale Diet (subsisting on 1000 calories or less per day).
Claire says she doesn’t think her dad realized that the comments, “though seemingly innocent and supportive, like, let’s all get fit together” were ultimately destructive.
Soon Claire wasn’t just dieting, she was also using diet pills (X-trim) and diuretics, but avoided outright anorexia and bulimia.
“I wasn’t a fan of making myself throw-up, which was kind of trendy at the time. There was something, my inner rudder, telling me to hold on a second, you don’t want to be about anorexia like many of the girls in dance class.”
Things didn’t improve when Claire married and had children.
“In my first marriage, which lasted 18 years, I had a hard time being seen naked. Especially in my child-bearing years, when my only purpose was to serve my children, to be their sustenance.
“My sexuality went right out the window and there was self-loathing about what happened to my body (after carrying and nursing children). Even when I was thin and muscular, I was still looking at all the things that were wrong.”
Interestingly, it is Claire’s second marriage to “an extremely lovely, conscious man” that caused her to step forward and participate in our project.
During their honeymoon, Claire and her husband decided to make a 10-year plan.
What do we want to do this year? Who am I, and what do I want? Who are you, and what do you want? What do we want together?
Claire realized what she wanted was to rid herself of her body image issues, not just for her, but for her husband as well.
How Photographer Beth Sanders and Body-Centered Coach, Marlene Zaleznick, Worked With Claire.
“I had a certain degree of anxiety about being a participant. But I was also excited, because I love Beth and have observed her other work.”
Knowing that Claire had a background in dance, Beth and Marlene encouraged her to use her body as a dancer, which instantly put Claire at ease.
“I still dance; modern, lyrical. It’s a comfort for me. Some of the peak experiences of my life were onstage.
“(Dancing) is a place where I go into a different headspace altogether. I’m not thinking about my body. Am I fat? Is my costume right?
“When I step into the light, all of that goes away. There’s a boundary that dancing creates. For me to do something as vulnerable as (being photographed nude), I had to tap into that place of self-acceptance.”
Claire calls the dancing she performed in her session both “celebratory” and a process of “grieving.”
Here are some of Claire’s photos in motion:
At one point during Claire’s two-and-a-half hour shoot, Beth and Marlene placed bricks on Claire’s back in order to make her actually feel the weight of her body image issues pressing down on her.
Beth shot Claire for some time with the bricks on her body, then asked her to shake them off.
Claire says feeling the bricks falling off of her body was a personal breakthrough.
“I had a transcendent experience with (Beth) and seeing her in action. We were all a team, with Marlene as well.
“Marlene held the space and noticed things Beth couldn’t, because Beth was looking through the lens of an artist, while Marlene was looking through the lens of things that weren’t in that room, the sensations and energetic stuff.
“When Marlene observed me going too much into my head or having an emotional trigger … she’d say, ‘Come back into your body and be expressive, let go, let go.’ That’s her gift, she midwifed the process.”
Claire said that it helped being witnessed in her most vulnerable state and supported through it.
How Claire Felt When She Sat Down With Beth And Marlene To View Her Photos.
“Eighty percent (of me) embraced what I saw. I was mostly looking at (the photos) from an artistic appreciation of Beth. Because I was only looking at my experience there on the canvas and wanting to experience that.
“To see (Beth’s) genius was moving to me. I did have a conversation in my head – That’s not how I look stepping out of the shower every day.
“Marlene was really tuned in to pointing out the energy and the essence I was bringing to (the photos). Marlene was able to draw out how I showed up. There is a sense of peace and release in my face (in the photos) that was exactly what happened to me (in the process).”
Claire admits that twenty percent of her noticed “the softness of my stomach (…) I don’t have a flat tummy and even when I worked out I didn’t.”
Claire was taken back to that 8-year old little girl who had a little tummy. “The stomach-part that caused all of my (body image issues). There was a feeling of disappointment in that part.”
Claire wants to be able to sit down and have a soft belly. To feel that’s the “womanly part” of her body.
What She Hopes Her Photographs Will Do For Others.
“The bigger thing is … how can my story help a young girl see herself differently? To shift the mental chatter and the interior backlash that we have on each other.”
Her hope is that “we can begin to create a culture without judgment of other people’s body and shape.”
Originally, this was a project with the mandate to heal body image issues for our subjects. But as I looked through Claire’s photographs, I realized they were healing me and they may, in fact, have the same effect on some of you.
Because many of us are similar to Claire. We’re her age (48). We’re her size (5′ 4″, 150 lbs.). We have a hard time not arguing when someone gives us a compliment.
We have a hard time just saying “Thank you.” We find it difficult to believe people when they tell us we’re beautiful.
Be sure to leave Claire some love in the comments below. What I love about her photos is the power and grace in her body. Her expressive arms, her soft, round womanly curves and strong dancer’s muscles.
28 thoughts on “The Love Your Body Now Project”
Claire – thank you so much for sharing your true self with us. The pictures are beautiful and your beautiful spirit shines through. As I considered your story and photos, I thought about how the seemingly insignificant comments made by others can shape our picture of ourselves throughout our lives. I am determined to let those old words wash away and to be renewed in myself and let the beauty that is inside me shine through. Thank you for being such an inspiration
Love this comment so much Gina! xo
It is interesting how much time many of us like Claire spend thinking, bargaining, pleading with ourselves over food and our body image. Beautiful pictures!
Hi Haralee — I’m right there with her. Had to Fitness Pal my way through today!
This series is so wonderful! I love how beautiful dancers are, in every shape and size they are! My friend is a professional belly dancer, and there are so many body types out there creating amazing art.
One thing I like to remind myself of, is that Scarlet Johannson is the Sexiest Woman Alive (or some such title) and she is curvy and soft and her thighs probably touch.
Lisa I’m sure Scarlett’s thighs touch and I agree that she is delicious. xo
This series continues to impress and inspire me, Shannon. These women are so brave, and, especially in Claire’s case (daddy stuff) I can relate to so much of what they think or feel about themselves. It’s truly a tragedy what we -and those around us – do to our self-images when we are growing up.
Hi Sharon — I completely agree. Why is it that remember all of the insults and not the compliments?Sigh.
I love the work you are doing, and it is so desperately needed by so many women. Thank you for sharing this. And thank you, Claire, and so many other women, who are daring to believe and trust they are more than enough and incredibly beautiful by offering your body and soul in these images.
Hi Nicole — thanks so much for your kind words and I’ll be sure to pass them along to Claire. This has been such an eye-opener for me and I’ve found the women who are participating so inspirational and bold. xo
WHAT A LOVELY PERSON YOU ARE , AND IT COMES THRU IN THE PHOTOS ! THANK YOU FOR SHARING AND FOR GIVING US THE INSPIRATION AND SHOWING THE WORLD THAT WE ARE `NORMAL `,HEALTHY , BEAUTIFUL WOMEN
Shanon, love this. I get very tired of our generation trying to be teens and not the beautiful women they are. With each year my wife matures and becomes more beautiful both inside and out. I love the honesty of the work! Thank you!
Hey Gary — it’s so good to hear a man’s perspective! Thanks so much!
Such beautiful photos Claire. I so identified with the inner dialogue on what we eat. When we eat it. What we think when we walk by a reflection. See a photograph of ourselves. So freeing. I bet as you look back over your life — and when you are older — you will love looking at these. Cool.
Jamie I love your photo. You are such a natural beauty. I’ll send your comment along to Claire in case she hasn’t checked in lately. xo S
I so so love these vignettes of body beautiful. They are inspiring and uplifting, particularly to me, one of many, I am sure, with body issues. I have always wanted to do something like this to help me get past “what used to be” and accept what is now. My concern is finding a photographer that I can convey what I want to have and that level of comfort that will bring the results I hope for, such as these beautiful images.
Hi Melanie — the photographer is essential. If you decide to do this I suggest a face=to-face meeting with the photographer first to determine your comfort level.
Just…breathtaking. How beautiful. Thank you!
Nothing more Beautiful than the creation of a woman. God made every curve and detail perfect. Not only was the outside a work of art, but gave them beauty on the inside as well. Thanks for sharing these pictures and story.
Hello fellow Shannon — thanks!
I LOVE this. My daughters are 12 and 6. I hear my 6 year old saying she is “fat.” I remember feeling self-conscious for most of my life. It’s sad and makes my heart ache for our young girls who compare themselves to images that are merely illusions. Thank you for sharing these pictures and this story. Beauty. Pure and simple.
Hi miss Lucy. I adooooore your name. Why do I think it will have influenced your life. So glad this piece spoke to you. Claire was so generous with her journey and is such a fun, funny person.
I love this so much…
Me too Michelle. xo
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