My Insecurities, vol. 3
By Rori-Tai Williams
I chose to photograph the parts of my body that disgust me the most under beautiful lighting, in hopes of creating images that would boost my self-confidence. I needed a visual representation of how beautiful these parts of my body could actually be, in order to allow myself to appreciate what the creator gave me.
Can you tell what’s going on here?
I am the queen, and I’d like you to meet all of my wonderful rolls.
I decided to scrunch my body up into the tightest ball to form the most rolls and see exactly what I could capture. My desire was to explore all those abstract figures, shapes and forms that I could create using the rolls on my sides and portions of my breast.
I had fun with this, but I didn’t gain much appreciation for the fat trapped inside the rolls. But I do love the lighting and composition.
A classmate told me that he loves this perspective of my neck, because “it looks like an abstract hill somewhere in nature . . . I feel like I could just walk across your neck.” He later said he would like to see how large I could print this image, because he wanted to hang it on his wall. I left a 24 by 40 size print in his print drawer.
A professor said it reminded him of images of sand dunes in Egypt. He asked for a print for his office. I was motivated and empowered by the phrase “sand dunes in Egypt,” hence the title “My Insecurities, vol. 3: Neck Grain.” I was honored to have my work hanging in the office of one of my toughest professors.
I love the lighting, the perspective, the depth of field, the sharpness of the lines, the shadows and the shapes that are formed. This image was another turning point in appreciating my insecurities, because it was at this point that I realized that all these images were starting to boost my confidence — especially when both friends and professors asked for prints.
