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!

Hold on to Your Tickets

I just wanted everyone to know that your ticket is good to come back through the show (with others or just on your own) as many times as you'd like.

As well, if you look carefully at your ticket, you'll notice that if you bring your ticket and a book with you to our studio, you'll receive $50 off a regular-priced session (savings of 25%). Sorry men...this leaves you at a bit of a disadvantage! We just wanted to pass on some savings as a way of thanking you for supporting our project.

As a side note, the cre8ery now has an art-supply store (downstairs I think). So, if you're being inspired to use your creativity, stop by during their business hours and see what they have in stock. The owners are excellent people and it would be great to support them!

Thanks to all who came last night. Rodney and I had a wonderful time connecting with many of you. Hope to see you Tuesday at 7:00 at McNally Robinson...

With gratitude,
Sonya

p.s. pictures coming soon...

Joy, ache

It’s been a while since I stepped into the blogosphere and shared my heart with you all, the truth is the last few weeks as well as the last few months have been an emotional rollercoaster like I never imagined.

When I decided to do the Just As I Am project I did so out of a profound sense that a project like this was necessary and that nobody was doing it. I knew going in that the idea of nudity would be somewhat controversial but I also knew that nothing worth doing is ever easy, I just never really knew how hard it was going to get.

We set a date for this project to start almost exactly a year ago, my vision was simple, we will put out the idea that anyone who wants to come to my studio for a 10 min photo session can sign up and we will take a week off of work at the studio and put together this project. We would have an online gallery for the images and maybe a gallery would be interested in taking us on to put a show together. We made up some posters, sent out some press releases and went to work postering as many places as possible to get the word out about what we were doing, but would anybody come?? What if we took the week off and only had 1 person come? Would anybody in Winnipeg really say I believe in this as much as we did? So many questions. The next questions were just as valid, what would our families think of us for doing something they probably wouldn’t understand, and almost more importantly what would those who know our families think and how would they communicate that with the ones we love so much? Would I be ruining my career and reputation by being labelled as “that guy” that did the naked thing? How would this project affect my relationship with friends and family members, or more directly, would I lose friends over this? How would those in my church community react to this?

It’s a year later and I have a few answers. Firstly I have been able to walk with those of you who have been a part of this project as models. I have heard the pain you have felt as friends or family members looked at you with “the look” and made comments that made you hurt or cry; know that I too have felt your pain. I have also had the honour of hearing the other stories, the stories of how being a part of Just As I Am has brought healing to many of our participants, and how viewing it has brought healing to many of you who have taken the time to view this work; and my heart is filled with joy. As I stated at the beginning this has been a crazy ride for us, we have always been forced into asking ourselves over and over again how much we believe in this project. This has been a year of reading faces for me: I have seen the looks of disappointment in the faces of those I love and respect, I have seen the look of disgust in the faces of those who realize I’m “that guy”, I’ve seen the look of bewilderment in the faces of those who simply don’t get it. I have also seen the look of peace in the faces and eyes of those who finally feel “normal”, the look of victory in the faces of those who have faced their demons, and the look of healing in the faces of those who are on a new journey of self-acceptance.

Instead of this taking a week of our lives it has morphed into taking over about 5 working months away from my business. We have also had to make the decisions of how much we believe in this gallery and resulting book and in the end it has meant completely draining all of our bank accounts and signing over interest in our house and studio to the bank to produce this book. I have learnt again that God is my provider and that I’m incapable of taking care of my emotional and physical needs and in the end I feel a peace about being “all in” to a project that I’m proud to talk about.

As I got ready to go and hang the prints in the gallery I got an email that someone I’ve never heard of has sent a message to the Ellen D show telling her of the impact this project has had on her life and asking her to feature this project on her show, I’m deeply touched on a day like this to hear news like that. Thank you all for your support, I wish you all the very best in love, life, laughter and tears if need be, and I look forward to seeing you at the gallery this weekend.

Rodney