Art

This Photographer Is Breaking The Glass-Ceiling On Women’s Body Image

Published

6 years ago

May 23, 2018

Contributor

Images from: Anushka Kelkar (@browngirlgazin)

The Instagram photo project aims to change notions on body standards by capturing real, raw and bold photographs of Indian women

Text credits: Lakshmi Priya

The societal body standards that expect women to appear in the perfect hourglass shape has discouraged many women from embracing their natural appearance. Also by greeting them with racist comments on being a dark-complexioned woman, pointing from acne or scars on their face or bullying them on facial hair and stretch marks most of the women have encountered various forms of body shaming.

The Instagram page Browngirlgazin handled by Anushka Kelkar, a 21-year-old student from Delhi is breaking all these stereotypes on the women’s body image by capturing the natural beauty of Indian women. The photo project which was begun in the month of March has captured bold and realistic images of different women from India. This Instagram page depicts how women ragingly embrace themselves in spite of being different from societal expectations.

iii) everyone has their struggles with body image and health, whether conventionally attractive or not, and that isn’t something that other people can decide for you. in the end you take yourself on your own journey of self love, both inside and out. –@alarisae

A post shared by Anushka Kelkar (@browngirlgazin) on May 6, 2018 at 9:39am PDT

Anusha Kelkar’s caption on the first photo she shared in Instagram says ” For me, growing up in India and being a woman has meant constantly fearing my body– never showing too much of it, constantly policing it, and sometimes even feeling ashamed of the stares it brings”.

Gia&Kalpa on a very hot day in a very empty pool. Bodies do pretty incredible things when they aren't being directed or constrained. For me, growing up in India and being a woman has meant constantly fearing my body– never showing too much of it, constantly policing it, and sometimes even feeling ashamed of the stares it brings. On this page I want to make portaits of women and their interactions with their own bodies, and other people's bodies with less shame and guilt. limbs overspilling, heads banging, summer sweat sharing, loud laughter- intimacy exists in so many different forms, and I'm really excited to share portraits where I've been allowed to witness fragments of these moments – – – – – – #ftwotw #featurecreature #blueskinblueprint #fuckbeautystandards #indianwomen #feminism #lookrookie #photographysouls #uonyou #girlgaze #indiaphotoproject #pursuitofportraits #friendsinmyfeed #creative_portraits #thehomegirlnetwork #browngirlmagic #browngirlmag

A post shared by Anushka Kelkar (@browngirlgazin) on Mar 15, 2018 at 11:25pm PDT

Through the photo project, she thrives to take photographs of real women and their interactions with their own body. “Limbs overspilling, heads banging, summer sweat sharing, loud laughter- intimacy exists in so many different forms, and I’m really excited to share portraits where I’ve been allowed to witness fragments of these moments”, she added.

iii) Once Cara Delevingne's eyebrows made story, my 'caterpillar brows' became 'power brows' overnight. That's when I realised how the media is a mirror that shows us what we aren't – and in the age of Photoshop, what we cannot become but are expected to. I looked around me- very few women looked like the ads and all of them were insecure about their appearance. We can be our fittest, prettiest, most moisturized and yet be told we're not enough (but that we could be if we bought your product). It …is much easier to spare the stick, be comfortable in your own skin, with your own body, once you realise the carrot is a lie. –@boredoir

A post shared by Anushka Kelkar (@browngirlgazin) on Apr 24, 2018 at 7:40am PDT

i) There's no one thing about my body that makes me uncomfortable. I don't buy crop tops because on some days my belly is flat and on some days it isn't. The other day, I went to my mum's workplace and a volunteer at the NGO started telling me how I should bleach my facial hair because it was showing too much. Funny thing is, I had bleached it just 2 days before that. –@vidhushri.singhal

A post shared by Anushka Kelkar (@browngirlgazin) on Apr 25, 2018 at 4:26am PDT

Anushka’s photo sessions don’t aim at taking beautiful photographs of women with make-up’s covering their acne or scars. But, photographs which are real, honest and vulnerable. Anushka as a photographer tries to connect with the person she is shooting by letting them embrace all their anxieties and insecurities.

ii) There are stretch marks on every part of my body, my hands, my legs, my arms, and even my breasts. This notion that stretch marks are ugly, and you should put something that can reduce them almost got to me when my roommate sat me down and told me, stretch marks are beautiful. They are hot. It shows that you have done something, you’ve worked out. And only after that day have I started appreciating these marks. Every time I see them I feel more proud of myself. –@shravi1197

A post shared by Anushka Kelkar (@browngirlgazin) on Apr 13, 2018 at 6:15am PDT

From stretch marks, acne to body hair which all are considered as ‘ugly’ is beautifully captured, and the women are unapologetically being raw. These photographs capture all the insecurities encountered by most of the women by making us realise that they are actually beautiful.

ii) Baring myself this way is a step towards embracing my imperfections that I have, in the past, very consciously ignored. I don’t know if I can still call myself beautiful but I have learnt to feel beautiful and made peace with my imperfections, also making them a sign of my rebellion against lame social beauty norms. Perfection is fucking overrated. Nothing is perfect. It’s all about your perspective that makes you biased. Though I haven’t yet succeeded in loving my body the way I want to but I know I am on the right path and it’s only me myself who can accompany me on this path. –@kanchanuzumaki

A post shared by Anushka Kelkar (@browngirlgazin) on Apr 23, 2018 at 3:31am PDT

The women captured by Anushka are bold and courageous to showcase the scars of beauty they hold. Through this crusade, these women are being a part of sweeping away the notions of body standards in society.

ii) I was born with a higher level of body hair and felt insecure about it throughout my school life, praying for the day of the laser treatment to become a reality. I restricted myself to conservative clothes and was fixated on getting waxed the moment I saw the smallest ingrowth. –@sadhika_

A post shared by Anushka Kelkar (@browngirlgazin) on Apr 26, 2018 at 2:10am PDT

To see more photographs captured by Anushka, you can visit her Instagram page

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