My body. My limbs. My hair. My nose. My skin. My heart. My lungs. My breath.
Much of what we are taught about ourselves as women is that our bodies are not ours. As if we are someone else's to keep, to define, to use, take pleasure in, and to hurt.
Loving our bodies is not as simple as it sounds when we are still finding a home within us. When we're alone in nothing but our skin.
While nudes have traditionally been used to display our bodies for the pleasure of the male viewer, these portraits of us are distinct in that they evoke the safety we feel when no one is looking. We do not produce images for the gaze of patriarchy or to compete with other women. We don't seek to empower people — we know empowerment happens when we take control for ourselves.
Across many regions and cultures, though it doesn't represent every kind of body and beauty out there, this project is us sending nudes to ourselves — not to be consumed but to
be revered. Each woman has a unique, evolving relationship with her body. What we have in common is being alongside one another on the path to loving our bodies how we choose,
despite the battles we may face.
So we dream along our journeys. We touch each hair, each fold, each wrinkle, and each scar, remembering that we belong to ourselves.
Co-written by Alexandra Leese and Xoài Pham
Proceeds of Me + Mine will be donated to the organisations Black Trans Femmes in the Arts, Trans Law Centre and Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre.
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Published by Alexandra Leese, 92 pgs, 21 × 21 cm, softcover, 2020,
