To anybody who has ever denied the beauty of a full-bodied woman, artist Jasjyot Singh Hans’ work will have you eat all your words and your preconceived notions about beauty standards.
It was immediately after finishing his course in Animation Film Design at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, that animator and illustrator Jasjyot Singh Hans began working at Sabyasachi Couture. All of his work celebrates women at their natural, curvy best but his new zine, ‘Sikh Ladies In Sick Fashion’ combines this body positivity with his long-standing love affair with high fashion.
You might not realise this, but many of the social media influencers, beauty gurus, and yogis you already love are part of the movement. Popularly known as Googlymonstor and Devi, Sonia Parecadan is an Indian American nude art model based in San Francisco. To simply say that Sonia is a body positive model would be insufficient.
In a world that is still so afraid of the female body while also dictating strict ‘beauty’ standards of what it should ‘ideally’ look like, Sonia is among a growing group of women that serve as a formidable force of change. “I’m really proud to be representing us big-nosed, big-boobed, brown-skinned South Indian ladies in a world entrenched in white supremacist beauty standards,” she writes on Instagram.
For the internet, the body positivity movement exists as a way to normalise and equalise the standards we’re taught to strive for. It’s education through an endlessly diverse pool of personal experiences — and it’s especially poignant and necessary in 2019.
There’s power in numbers, and today over 1.7 million Instagram photos are tagged with #bodypositivity. Scars that tell stories, inevitable “imperfections,” and the power of personal choice: these are just a few of the diverse ways that body positivity continues to evolve. It is images like these that help redefine what it means to accept and confront our unique features.
And while it may not be intentional, these photos can truly change the way others see themselves — for the better. The more variety we see in these images, the more we can break down unrealistic expectations and relearn to embrace our bodies.
