Is getting naked simple?
Is getting naked simple?
These days it seems so. The immediacy and simplicity of social media tools make the basic act of showing the body seem easier, of feeling the need to build an aesthetic around how we look or don’t. Or beyond that, for the simple pleasure of doing it, a trend.
In everyday life it isn’t a simple act for me; fears always flood in, even more so under my own lens. I had never before managed to feel whole about being naked. Looking at yourself in the mirror just before showering and even after, while drying off, analyzing every fold, every spot, those stretch marks that have been appearing, is something complicated for me. It’s a beautiful moment of intimacy that gets distorted by prejudices imposed over years; and the more I look at myself, instead of beginning to recognize and love myself, a distance appears between me and my image.
There is always fear, questioning and a personal idea that never quite comes together. I had a vague, distant view, even of other people’s opinions. Mine was still missing.
Pralad gave me the chance to get naked consciously. Whether I have too much, whether I’m missing something, whether my body has deteriorated or not, that’s me. Every mark is an experience, the record of an accident, the mark of the sun, my life stamped on my skin.
Posing for these photographs was my greatest show of determination and courage in breaking my own limits, seconds of bravery that led me to overcome fears. To find myself again.
Getting naked, this time not under my own lens, allowed me to find a physical-spiritual balance, an act that leaves out any self-sabotage. Posing naked is feeling light, without complexes. This is me at my most basic and my deepest; it is essence, creation and power.
