Images are creations not reality, and this is especially true for what we see in fashion or publicity. Is not necessarily a bad thing, since illusion is one of the main ingredients of artistic creation. On the other hand, it becomes an abusive tool when is used to feed on the insecurities of people to make them buy a certain product.

While is not bad or unnecessary to criticize the fashion, editorial and publicity industries for imposing impossible body standards, you should ask yourself: Why should I hold myself to those standards? You can shift the responsibility to yourself and by doing so you gain control over your body image. The only standards you should have when it comes to being happy about your body are your own, and of course health.

Artistic creation is pertinent to the conversation since Art has allowed us to have a record of aesthetic body standards in previous eras, from prehistoric societies, Greeks, baroque, etc. The first lesson to learn is that having an “ideal body” is not particular to our contemporary society. Second lesson is that they are ideals and not realities. From ‘rubenesque’ figures or Ingres’ odalisques, they all respond to the artistic will of the artist. To the trained eye is easy to spot the body modifications that do not correspond to reality.

Those aesthetic ideals reflect on the values and needs of the time, might they be fair or unfair.  It is important to take into consideration that ideal does not reflect the taste of everybody.

This is especially true for contemporary society. For thousands of years, at least when it comes to women, the main component of the ideal of beauty was the possibility of bearing children. Thus youth and generous proportions  (specially around the hips) were unequivocal signs of beauty.  These signs of beauty are called, for scientific purpose, ornamentation, and refer to hips and breast.

In our contemporary society we are constantly under the impression that these curves around the body of women that constitute ornamentation have gone out of fashion.  An overall sense that curviness has been hijacked and substituted by impossible small waists, and plummeted BMI’s (Body mass index).

To address this issue I would like to turn to neuroscientists Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam that published a book on ‘desire’ called “A billion wicked thoughts”.  In their book they make the point that magazines and publicity that often feature women with a lower-than-average BMI –such as Vogue or In Style– are targeted to women, not men.

According to their studies, what men search in the privacy of their house, tells a very different story. It actually proves that when it comes to desire ornamentation and male visual cues of arousal are still the same ever. But rather than specific size men are attracted by a smaller waist- bigger ornamentation ratio.             As a side note, they also found that when it comes to male erotica searches on Internet, for every “skinny girl” search, there are almost three “fat girl” searches. In very plain terms it means that Titanic’s star Kate Winslet would be more popular in the eyes of men than, let’s say, Sex and the City’s Sarah Jessica Parker.  It would also mean that plump version of Jennifer Hudson might get the same appeal as skinny Jennifer Hudson, since what matter is keeping the curves, not the size of the curves.

It is important to keep in mind that the industries that work with body image, namely Fashion, Advertisement and Film (Hollywood), chose their models. In the case of fashion is clear that they can select the models according to the age and body type that fits their interests. If you don’t have that body type or if you are not 14 to 25 like most models, well it’s going to be hard to live by those standards. But the good news is that you don’t have to. There’s also no law that obliges you to look like assembled human being ‘Kim Kardasian’ to be attractive.

Another thing that is crucial is to consider that professional models, well they are professionals. They work hard to meet the standards of the industry and to make the most of what nature gave them.  Next time you see and ad with a super fit model, instead of asking yourself: ‘why can’t I be more like that?’, ask yourself if she could be as good as you at your job without intensive training and effort.

When talking about this topic I felt that it was important to say that the problem of body image is not specific to women, but it also touches men directly and indirectly. Directly by often setting unrealistic expectations towards body images.  Even though is not new (Michelangelo’s David is inspired by many men), but crucial to have in mind. More than ever teenagers are beginning to suffer from eating disorders and struggle with their image. Men are also affected indirectly by the negative effect this phenomenon has on the confidence of the women in our lives. Don’t underestimate the importance that the happiness of partners, mothers, sisters, friends, have for men.

So what are the things to keep in mind:

1.- Working on your self confidence is as important as working out.

2.- Don’t aim to have an ideal body that doesn’t fit your body type. Instead figure out how to make the most of you body type to feel good with yourself.

3.- Self esteem starts at home, be sure to tell your daughters and sons they are beautiful as they are. To have they’re own beauty standards, not a ‘foreign’ industry or even your own.

4.- You can weigh-in on what media (fashion, advertisement) portrays by making your opinion be heard. Write to your favorite magazines if you think they’re being unfair; buy products and clothes that are conscientious about body types and age (you should feel represented). When it comes to market tendencies the public is the ultimate boss.

5.- And lastly and most important: Healthy is the ultimate sexy!

Al estar ubicada en un espacio abierto al tránsito libre, la sala que alberga actualmente la obra de Damián Siqueiros ha sido visitada por los públicos diversos que asisten al CECUT, los cuales han sabido reconocer la gran calidad del trabajo que se expone, lo que promete que el resto de las exposiciones que albergará este espacio, brindarán la posibilidad de que el arte esté cada vez más cerca de la comunidad.

A través de imágenes que parecen romper las fronteras entre la fotografía y la pintura, se explora la reglamentación impuesta por las instituciones sociales, como la Iglesia y los medios, sobre los dominios de lo privado y lo público, como es el caso de la identidad de la pareja, que en muchas ocasiones está influenciada por la sociedad y las instituciones religiosas.

En éste, como en otros de sus proyectos fotográficos, Siqueiros tiene como propósito el mejor entendimiento de la diversidad e igualdad de género. Para tal efecto la serie que integra la exposición Sacred Perfomances: A Couple of Rules (La vida como un performance) presenta como protagonistas a una pareja formada por un hombre y una mujer, que de acuerdo con el autor no sigue los esquemas de género convencionales, o la manera en que concebimos habitualmente la masculinidad y la feminidad.

Al referirse a los personajes de la serie, el autor expresa: “El chico se pudiera ver más femenino que la chica, y la chica más masculina que el chico, lo que rompe con la manera en que concebimos las relaciones de pareja y en la que pensamos los roles de género como fijos”.

El autor invita al público a cuestionar lo que consideramos como femenino y masculino, y expresa que él no cree que existan diferencias entre ambos, puesto que las características de comportamiento no son exclusivas de ningún sexo.

Para Siqueiros, las diferencias de género son construcciones dictadas por la sociedad, pues mucho tiene que ver en la forma de actuar la manera en la que el ser humano es educado.

“Mi idea es que la relación sea igualitaria. Si la mujer en algún momento decide quedarse con un rol tradicional que ella sea quien lo decida, pero que también tenga la oportunidad de integrarse a la fuerza de trabajo fuera de casa. El que dé el hombre el soporte emocional, también pudiera ser una opción. Ese tipo de cuestiones son las que me gustaría que la gente reflexionara”, expresó el artista.

En este sentido, Siqueiros supone que a lo largo de la historia mucho ha dictado la Iglesia el comportamiento del hombre y la mujer. Debido a lo anterior, y al ser la arquitectura parte importante en su obra, en cada una de sus fotografías aparece como escenario edificaciones religiosas. Se pueden apreciar en este proyecto tres espacios: Las catedrales Santa María la del Mar y Nuestra Señora de Barcelona, ambas en Barcelona, además de la Catedral de Sevilla.

La exposición está integrada por nueve fotografías, de una serie de dieciséis, en las que el autor presenta los distintos momentos que puede vivir una relación de pareja y el tipo de lazo existente, tal vez tenso, frágil, fuerte, de apego, entre otras definiciones que el público podrá descubrir.

“Me gustaría dejar al público la libertad de interpretar, de acuerdo a su experiencia personal, qué parte de la relación se ve reflejada en la fotografía”, sostuvo el artista y mencionó que, por ejemplo, hay una pieza en la que se ve claramente que se hace referencia a la etapa del conocimiento de la pareja.

Una de las que a juicio del autor es muy emotiva es en la que la mujer carga al hombre. Es también simbólica, dice Siqueiros, en el sentido de que quien brinda el soporte no es quien tradicionalmente lo hace.

Sobre la técnica que utiliza en su obra, el artista reveló que trabaja con lo que él llama foto-pintura, que básicamente es el cuidado de la imagen que permite que al final la fotografía se vea como una pintura. Es por eso que para Siqueiros elementos como el maquillaje, la escenografía y los vestuarios, cobran gran relevancia, lo que permite que sus fotografías sean verdaderas obras de arte.

El CECUT mostrará en este mismo espacio tres exposiciones al año, en las que se reconocerá el trabajo de reconocidos fotógrafos de talla nacional e internacional.

La entrada a esta exposición es libre y puede visitarse de lunes a domingo de 10:00 a.m. a 8:00 p.m., hasta el 28 de agosto. Si está interesado en el resto de nuestras actividades le invitamos a consultar nuestro portal www.cecut.gob.mx

Atentamente

Centro Cultural Tijuana

I will do my best to have a translation of this text on my webpage in French and Spanish by the end of the week on the Blog section. To my Quebec friends I mean no offense by this delay.

Discover more than 20 new oeuvres, including a video-art. Please If you like my work, share it with your friends¡

I hope you enjoy, and thanks for following my work.

Dearly,
Damian

I have to command the artistic director for his original take on this period. It had the perfect balance of social content and entertainment to have a complete sense of what living in the 40′s was about. From the beautiful and sometimes superficial sense of happiness, the monotony of the  every day living or the scorn of the tight moral values of the time. Every number has its thrill and excitement, whether because an incredible acrobatic act or an emotional engaging choreography.

The show ends on a very high note. You could say that the feeling is of ‘pathetism’ with momentum, in the sense of inducing a feeling of being overwhelmed by what your senses perceive. I think this is because, unlike most of the shows we see today, This particular one concentrates on the performers rather than in  a spectacular production, with thousands of gadgets. You are actually allowed to concentrate on the artists and their performance.

If you are in Montreal, be sure to not miss seeing a show by la TOHU. Compared to what they have to offer is really inexpensive, and you’ll have a wonderful time.

http://www.tohu.ca/