Art and expressing myself

A few days ago, I was walking around Sherbrooke's Lac des Nations, and was stopped by an artist asking me if I would be interested in being a model for his photography project.

So, my first reaction was- no. I'm against any form of modelling. As a North American society, we have had our fair share of skinny, bronzed, "sexy" models who make "normal" girls grapple with self esteem and their body image. Why add to the destruction to our self image?
Until I found out that this photographer is against such images. I met him this evening and learned that being open to photography, being open to being photographed, is more than just having one's picture taken. I felt exposed, but it was a strangely liberating experience. I felt like I was saying: "This is me. This is who I am."

This is what we need. Not pictures of frighteningly skinny women in skimpy clothes. We need a revival of what we describe as beauty. I see beautiful women every day, as well as men, on the streets. I would name beauty as a way of being, not a way of displaying onself to society. No matter how you dress or how much make up you wear, if you don't have confidence in yourself and have a skip in your step, you don't have that special something I call beauty.

But then again, beauty is subjective. We can't talk about beauty, since it is a question of taste, as beautiful women in Japan are not considered pretty in South America for example.

So what can we conclude? I'm not sure, to be honest. "Ugly" people get terrible treatment, which I see on a daily basis. Plainer looking women get poorer service at restaurants, for instance. Is this fair? No. But then, the sad truth is that beauty does add to your life in many wonderful ways. Maybe all this is only a part of the "unfairness" of life. Instead of moaning about this though, all I can say is: every human being has at least a grain of beauty within himself or herself. And developping it is the best way to being yourself.