What if life was more like art?
This is the story of how a simple drawing changed my life. Well, not really my whole life. Let's say it turned a switch on so I could see beauty where I thought there was none.
I am an elder millennial who grew up in the 90s, known as the era of fitness top models, and in Italy, known as the fashion capital of the World.
Shut up France.
With such background, plus this mass media thing hovering over me, it's no surprise my ideal of physical beauty happens to align with a relatively small amount of body fat.
Make no mistake, I never considered myself beautiful for this very reason.
Now now, no need to feel sorry. We're all fighting our own battles. Plus, I am funny in Italian and know loads of fun facts. These attributes may not get me a million likes on Instagram from strangers but my friends like me just as much.
Where was I? Oh yes, body fat.
I have studied aesthetic philosophy at length and history of art was my favourite subject in school. Would I ever say that those Reinassance dancing nymphs were overweight and ugly? Never.
I have never encountered a work of art that portrayed the ugly. Even an upside-down urinal is beautiful when it carries the intention of creative production.
A long time ago I noticed I tended to judge people very quickly based on unconventional attire, creative choices, functionality over style, etcetera. Now, when I see someone carrying themselves in a, to me, curious way, I tend to just tell myself:
Hey look, they are doing what they want and that's fine. You do you!
In the past years, that very sentence has been my guide through life and social media. You can use it too if you'd like!
Still, that mostly applied to aesthetic choices, not quite to body type.
Then, I saw a drawing of a girl. Not a zero per cent body-fat girl at all.
And now you know how I feel about artistic productions.
That girl was gorgeous. Every inch of her body, even those inches that weren't smooth under her clothes, was purposefully there and unapologetically part of the person.
You see, I did notice the soft lines that formed her body but hey, they are doing what they want and that's fine. You go, girl!
Also, she was gorgeous. Did I say that?
All this time spent studying the prehistoric reasons for our attraction for symmetry and the subtle ways that health and procreation shaped our taste, plus the pages of works of art admired for years, and I never thought of putting them together and applying them to my own life.
Aphrodite coming out of a shell? Glorious. Me coming out of the shower? Eh.
This is a hard fact.
I am coming to believe what I've always considered a beautiful body is the result of a life of mass media influence, see the way I introduce my background! And because art has always been part of my school curriculum, not my lifestyle, I never thought of judging my life as I judge art.
It took me a drawing saw online almost by chance, to realise that mass media is only a shadow of what art and aestheticism is.
Look at me walking out of my cave and seeing the light for the first time.
Myth of the cave by Plato, anyone?
Fun facts, I told you!
Image: via
I am an elder millennial who grew up in the 90s, known as the era of fitness top models, and in Italy, known as the fashion capital of the World.
Shut up France.
With such background, plus this mass media thing hovering over me, it's no surprise my ideal of physical beauty happens to align with a relatively small amount of body fat.
Make no mistake, I never considered myself beautiful for this very reason.
Now now, no need to feel sorry. We're all fighting our own battles. Plus, I am funny in Italian and know loads of fun facts. These attributes may not get me a million likes on Instagram from strangers but my friends like me just as much.
Where was I? Oh yes, body fat.
I have studied aesthetic philosophy at length and history of art was my favourite subject in school. Would I ever say that those Reinassance dancing nymphs were overweight and ugly? Never.
I have never encountered a work of art that portrayed the ugly. Even an upside-down urinal is beautiful when it carries the intention of creative production.
A long time ago I noticed I tended to judge people very quickly based on unconventional attire, creative choices, functionality over style, etcetera. Now, when I see someone carrying themselves in a, to me, curious way, I tend to just tell myself:
Hey look, they are doing what they want and that's fine. You do you!
In the past years, that very sentence has been my guide through life and social media. You can use it too if you'd like!
Still, that mostly applied to aesthetic choices, not quite to body type.
Then, I saw a drawing of a girl. Not a zero per cent body-fat girl at all.
And now you know how I feel about artistic productions.
That girl was gorgeous. Every inch of her body, even those inches that weren't smooth under her clothes, was purposefully there and unapologetically part of the person.
You see, I did notice the soft lines that formed her body but hey, they are doing what they want and that's fine. You go, girl!
Also, she was gorgeous. Did I say that?
All this time spent studying the prehistoric reasons for our attraction for symmetry and the subtle ways that health and procreation shaped our taste, plus the pages of works of art admired for years, and I never thought of putting them together and applying them to my own life.
Aphrodite coming out of a shell? Glorious. Me coming out of the shower? Eh.
This is a hard fact.
I am coming to believe what I've always considered a beautiful body is the result of a life of mass media influence, see the way I introduce my background! And because art has always been part of my school curriculum, not my lifestyle, I never thought of judging my life as I judge art.
It took me a drawing saw online almost by chance, to realise that mass media is only a shadow of what art and aestheticism is.
Look at me walking out of my cave and seeing the light for the first time.
Myth of the cave by Plato, anyone?
Fun facts, I told you!
Image: via
Comments
Post a Comment