Conversation I – Talking about Self-esteem, Plus size modeling Opportunities in
India & My Global Dove Project #ShowUs
One of those perfectly gloomy days I really don’t know if I
should be blaming the monsoon but the melancholy has surrounded me over 15 /20
days now…heck as I write it down I feel even more. Is it to do with the fact
that I am home for my summer vacations(Yes I’m one of those people pursuing a job that allows me summer vacation-For those of you who do not know I’m a
lecturer -an adjunct one for Pearl and NIFT Mumbai).
Do you see what I did there? I tried to make myself better by
spelling out my profession through and through, Sometimes I feel it’s become a complete
extension of my demeanor & possibly the only thing that makes me happy
about my existence.
I have been severely anxious lately. Writing this blog
after September 2018 when I last shot with Rohed and I was talking about
relationships! If you missed it I am linking it here.
One of the reasons why I stopped writing was also because I
felt I wasn’t writing stuff that would be
-is there a takeaway for you guys?
-I kept wondering who is actually reading it?
-in my headspace, I was creating content but in all honesty,
it was just all the work that I was being offered and I kept posting that and
made myself feel very occupied.
Despite the hiatus, I feel I need to get back? Why, you may ask. Some major
life changes happened for me over the early start this year. I had been
shooting with DOVE past November and that in my head was absolutely beautiful
and also something that was saving me from creating my content. I also want to
spell out today what exactly was I doing with them.
Part 1: Shot in India by photographer Prarthana Singh – Yup I
was lucky to be photographed by her.
Most of you ask how I ended up getting the project honestly
it just happened for me. From what I can recount -Dove, Girlgaze, and Getty
Images were looking for different stories of women throughout the world for a
better representation of women in media that would form a library and can be
used commercially by anyone once they paid for it through Getty and had a wide
array of women not just by their skin colors, looks, professional and
sexuality-wise.
I beg for you to agree that the Media is a big exposure not
only to younger girls but also women our age and our mothers who subconsciously
are exposed to the unwarranted standard of what an Indian traditional beauty
must look like-taut fair skin, Petite by all standard and long dark hair! You
see our self-esteem is developed due to how we view other people reacting to
us. I give my due credit to Supriya(supaarwoman on IG,must check her work out) who gave my number to Prarthna and then I
was selected by the international team with my photographer consent, once they had shortlisted me and heard my story ofcourse.
It was shot in November-the idea was to cover a day in my
life. We started early at 6 am -from the morning walk with my dad to my
workspace to how I stepped out for a blogger event. Nothing was positioned and
it all happened in the natural setting. Of course, I did change my outfits 5
times that day. This project has been released under the hashtag of #ShowUs and
you ladies can still contribute to the Getty library. We had to abide certain
rules-there could be only retouched of light but no skin, no photoshop to make
me look bigger or smaller and absolutely no filters! Currently, 70% of women
report that they don’t feel represented in media and advertising. You can’t be
what you can’t see, so I have set out to change that by partnering with
@girlgaze @dove and @gettyimages on Project #ShowUs. Alongside 116
female-identifying and non-binary photographers across the world, we have photographed
179 diverse, beautiful and complex womxn who we believe represent the change we
want to see in the beauty industry. Our rallying cry is join Project
#ShowUs.Sharing some of the images below:
3 days with the crew right from amazing production people-Gaby you have my
heart! To the entire costume team headed by George, that sourced such an
amazing variety -I mean sorry to the teams I have worked with in India you had
nothing on them-I was given options! It was absolutely liberating-I yes ‘I’ got
to choose what I could possibly wear and to me that feeling was surreal! I also
happen to meet Simmone there who was another fellow Indian lady that was
selected for the campaign.
campaign was supported by the likes of Shonda Rhimes and has currently won Silver at
Lions film festival. Come April the campaign was released and I was lauded by
Kayaan Contractor and Oh boy oh what was that feeling? Sharing the link to the
video and images of my trip below. The trip has been the greatest gift to not
just me but been a bigger part of this community that we keep harping about. It shall really bring about the change I believe in.
always been pitched and would like to think of my self as a body-positive
blogger but all I had started doing was collaborating-yes it’s a mean of income
but I want to do something for myself, as a hobby and outlet to vent my
feelings. This blog is a virtual diary and I am in no competition to any of my
plus bloggers/influencers or models. I’m sorry but I had really not like to be
a part of rat race anymore-I don’t go on and fetch for brand collaborations
myself. If it comes my way I’m happy to talk about it but I’m deliberately not
going to ask someone. No, I haven’t started to feel way ahead of myself or have
any arrogance it’s just that I don’t want to care about my curation so much. I
shall still stick to the aesthetics but I have never cared about the numbers
and never will. This picnic I truly did it for myself. I got all my favorite
things made a picnic basket and enjoyed my time. I worked with Shivani and
Siddhi and that gave me so much confidence in front of the camera and behind, I
really enjoyed myself and wasn’t pressured to do certain things in a certain
way. And this is what I created with them.
what has been making me feel better
fair I always loved them but maybe it’s the biological clock kicking in
arranged married yup just warming up (I need to still weigh this one down)
choreographer’s) Bachata video-I find it immensely calming so weird
which is definitely not a preference in a Bengali-Punjabi household (only
because it’s a seawater fish-yes we have that kind of discrimination and I was
snooty about it too) and I think I need to thank Sanky for introducing me for this one.
about my parent’s.Both their health’s are declining at a pace I am honestly
learning to cope up and it’s hard to be alone doing this.
you can love yourself-I heard this Lizzo say at a concert and this is exactly
what I had like to quote to you guys. The messages that I get I’m honestly so
overwhelmed by it that why would you want to be like me – and I really stand by
this you have to be the best of you. Love each part of yourself than more the
other-only you will put yourself up on a pedestal and let people follow! I
don’t want you to be anything like me-I’m sorry but yes I really don’t. You can
be YOU and really that is the best kind of idols you want to have. Iw ould
definitely say around yourself with really positive people (even if they are
not happy all the time – like me 😛 I know this is going to be difficult but a
good brick always sticks around and I’m counting on you.
sums my musings for today.More in the next post, hoping to write more often and
for those l’il birdies that come and read here. A big Thank You!