Just As I am has entered Alberta

There are now four books living in Alberta...

Gallery Exhibit Over

The exhibit has been taken down and packed up. We will continue to look for more ways to get the exhibit to other galleries. We are also looking at how to continue to offer people the experience and bring even more variety to the project. For now, we will be focusing on our studio for women, Eve Studios.

The book, which has been fourth on the Winnipeg bestsellers list for softcover non-fiction for the past two weeks, is available at McNally Robinson and Eve Studios for $42. We are working on making it available online as well.

Thanks to everyone who has supported the project in numerous ways.

Enjoy the warmer weather!

The Gallery is Still Open!

We keep running into people who think the gallery exhibition is over.

It's not.

It is open:
- Sat. 12-5
- Mon. 6-10
- Tues. 12-5

At the cre8ery, 125 adelaide, 2nd floor (across from Canadian Footwear).

Admission is $10 adults, $8 students (under 12 free) - cash only

Books are available here for $40 (plus GST) or 3/$100.

Body Image--Seeing Yourself with New Eyes

For starters, here is a little taste of opening night...

And now Sonya and I have a question to ask. How many women reading this have become so focused on certain parts of your bodies, that you have completely lost sight of your beauty? And men, have you forgotten that your true strength does not have anything to do with size?

Do you think of yourself as a:

- stubborn number on a weigh scale

- a collection of bulges, sags and dimples

- a lack of curves/muscles

- a size

You are not the sum of your parts. You are a whole person, uniquely and amazingly designed. Your body houses your spirit. It carries you through life. It expresses all of your emotions. It speaks your mind. It shows your love for others. It helps you transform the world.

Just As I Am is an art project currently showing at the cre8ery in the Exchange. It takes ordinary men and women of all shapes and sizes and shows the art in them.

Rodney had been at a loss for how to help our clients realize that they were not the only one with a certain body type. It wasn't until a friend of his challenged him with a story of his high school art class, that the idea came to him to create a gallery and book of images capturing the beauty and strength of real people.

This many-layered project touches on much more than body image, but it was one of the initial reasons the project came to be.

Here is what one of the participants had to say following opening night:

"I must say that I was struck nearly silent by the beautiful images hanging on those walls. Reading some of the descriptions that people wrote about themselves nearly brought me to tears in some cases. I noticed an energy in the room last night that was...what? Awe?....Reverence? Perhaps a mix of both, but it seemed almost like that hush that comes over you when you know you've entered a holy or sacred place. I believe that everyone that was there when I was there, was feeling the same things.

Rodney and Sonya, you have managed to do what should have been done a long time ago and that is to bring to light the beauty that is in every one of us. We are so bombarded with media images of thin, beautiful, "perfect" people that it's not hard to start comparing ourselves to the artificial photos we see, and soon enough we start to believe that because we don't look like them, we are ugly, fat, and not worthy of..well...anything.

I find it terribly sad that it has come to this, where we as humans have lost our ability to see our own greatness, our own beauty and our own perfection. Beauty is everywhere and your project has helped us to find that again. In the eyes of some of those photos I saw survival, healing, humour, and for some an awakening. It's like a weight has been lifted off of us. That weight of striving to be what society says is the perfect person. What we are discovering after this project, is that we are already perfect people. We are exactly what God meant us to be, in all our different sizes, colours, backgrounds and opinions. Everything about us is right where it's supposed to be, and who are we to argue that?

I feel privileged and blessed and grateful to have worked on this project with you. The changes I have seen and felt, and the emotions that your photos evoke, are something that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I think if you ask any other participant, they will tell you the same. This has been life changing. You have changed our lives and for that we are all grateful. Thank you for showing us our own beauty and perfection. It was there all along.

Thank you, thank you, thank you."

With gratitude,

Laura (and Ella)

If accepting your body is something you struggle with, come out to the cre8ery at 125 adelaide st. and gain a new perspective.

Admission is $10. For more info, see www.justasiam.ca or the cre8ery's website.

Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 12-5 pm, Monday and Thurs. 6-10 pm

(Show closes March 9th).

Barbie Doll Teachable Moment

I think I had my first body image talk with my five-year-old daughter. She had brought her new Christmas Barbie downstairs and taken off its beautiful wedding dress. I decided to take the opportunity to have a conversation about how her doll's body is very different from women's bodies. We talked about the length of her legs, the thinness of her legs and arms, the narrowness of her waist, the shape of her breasts, her ever-present make-up, her hair length, and her body glitter (my daughter's observation). Aside from her hair, not only do most women not look like that, I don't think any woman looks like that. Those proportions don't work. And yet, we probably grew up thinking that is beautiful and ideal...and perhaps have never lost that idea.

It's never to early to instill in our kids a sense of reality when it comes to our bodies. The majority of men are not chiselled, muscle-bound, and "perfectly" built like the Ken doll. And women don't look like Barbies. And, hopefully, we don't have plastic smiles that stay on regardless of how we're feeling.

I was very proud of one participant for bringing her whole family to the show on Saturday. At first, it may seem like a strange thing, but I think she's on to something. If we can bring truthful imagery into our kids' lives and talk about that, as well as discussing (rather than accepting and becoming desensitized by) the misleading imagery all around us, I think a healthier self-concept can develop, as well as a healthier way of looking at others. That said, as parents, we need to look at what we and our kids are ready to see and talk about (although I imagine we are behind much of the time).

The show goes until Tuesday the 9th. Hope you can make it!