Changing Perceptions Beauty Salon

 

The women were invited to the salon I had created, with soothing colours, scents and music to generate a peaceful atmosphere.  They were able to see the finished product of their body part and to have another body cast in order for me to get some effective photographs of the body casting process. This is presented on a screen in the waiting area of the salon.

The women suggested the second cast felt like a natural experience, as though they were visiting the salon for a normal beauty treatment.

Each individual was completely shocked that it was part of their body displayed in the salon, stating how they could not believe the outcome of the final product. When comparing the photographs of themselves to the finished sculpture, they had realised their whole perception had changed when looking at their body from a different perspective. Not only had the outcome of the sculptures been successful, but each of them thoroughly enjoyed the casting process as it had been a therapeutic and relaxing experience, where their confidence has increased in relation to their specific body part.

Despite my work involving skill, it has been more about the concept and how I socially engage with the individuals, how I have conversed with them and made them feel at ease. I feel my ideas are evident within my work and I have followed my stated intentions of my proposal which has worked effectively in order for me to help women feel more positive about their body. Social engagement will always be a big part of my practice as I thoroughly enjoy interacting with participants within my work.

 

  

The Body Casting Process

The body casting room has been created into a relaxing environment for the women to rest and unwind with therapeutic tranquil music being played during their body cast.

The body casting process takes around 30-40 minutes, depending on the area being cast.
Vaseline needs to firstly be applied to the desired body part, ensuring the whole area is covered.
 It takes around 15-20 minutes to apply the modrock plaster bandage on to the Vaseline area, which will take another 15 minutes to dry.

During this time, myself and the individual can either have a conversation about their body and why they are unhappy with it, a chance for them to offload to someone, or a general ‘chit chat’ conversation to make them feel at ease, or even just peace and quiet, giving them a chance to relax.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Middle Aged women's Body Sculptures

The reason for displaying the body sculptures in this way and keeping them white is to portray the pure beauty of them.

These sculptures are true reflections of how the women actually look, with only the edges sanded and the surface roughly sanded to give a finished look to each piece.

Each sculpture has had two coats of white gloss spray paint applied to it.

The reason for framing each of the sculptures is for them to have a big importance within the salon installation and for the middle aged women themselves to really appreciate their beautiful body parts and appreciate the positive outcome from taking part in this project.

Through the body casting process and the intimate discussions I have had with each of the women, I have been overwhelmed to hear how well this body image process as a whole has worked from them.
Just by taking a few photographs of their nude bodies, for them to look at themselves in a different perspective, all of which thought they looked worse in the photographs rather than in the mirror, due to different lighting.

Comparing the photographs to the body cast which they had the opportunity to see in person presented within the salon was a very positive experience.
All of the women explained in their recorded statement of the project that the casting process had worked for them and how their perception of what they initially looked like had now changed and were thankful for being able to be a part of the process, something which they never thought they would have taken part in.

Installation Development

The body casting process has been therapeutic and relaxing for all of the middle aged women who have taken part in this project, each explaining how it somehow felt like a salon experience, having a conversation during the body casting treatment as you would in a normal day to day salon and making each individual feel at ease during the duration of the body cast.

Due to the therapeutic process, I felt the idea of creating my own body casting salon installation would portray my whole concept in an effective way and allow my audience to get an idea of the process each of the women have taken part in.

Within the salon, I would like the finished body casting sculptures to be presented in a cosmetic and aesthetically pleasing way, displaying the positive outcome of changing the middle aged women’s perceptions of their bodies.

Birdseye view of Installation:

 

 

 

waiting room

 

casting room

 

Sculpture Development

I initially wanted to transform these body cast sculptures into unique objects which could even be used, such as a vase or even ceramic/ plaster bowls. However as I am trying to portray middle age women’s natural beauty, I thought by turning the body parts into something they are not, would take the concept away from my project of wanting the women to see themselves exactly how they look and how other people see them.

 

Below are the plaster body sculptures after a day of sanding.

 



I felt the body sculptures looked untidy and as I wanted them to have a beautiful smooth gloss finish, I decided to sand them some more with an electric sander.
To varnish all four of the varied body parts, I used 2 coats of a white gloss spray paint which gave each of the sculptures a finished look.

 

 

 

 

 

2 coats of white gloss spray paint

 

Plaster Development Process

As I would like to create plaster body sculptures from these modrock cast's, displayed is the plaster parts in progress, starting with a plaster outer case applied to the piece to create a hard structure before more plaster is poured inside to create the finished sculpture which will later be sanded and varnished.

Here are the works in process:

Thick plaster poured into the empty cast shell.

Empty Modrock plaster bandage body cast shell, stiffened with an extra layer of plaster on top.

 Modrock plaster bandage being torn away from the full plaster sculpture now created underneath.

 

Body Casting

Even though I have been extremely happy with the outcome of the Photoshoots and feel they portray my research of distorted perceptions in a successful way, I wanted to carry on the development of getting to know these middle aged women who have come forward to help develop the project.

As I usually like to involve sculpture within my work and remembering how effective the body casting process worked in Stage 2, I wanted to bring it into practice for this project, questioning the women whether they would allow me to cast the parts of the body they were unhappy with which could later be turned into a beautiful object and seen in a aesthetically pleasing positive way.

Each of the women were happy for me to do this and were excited to be a part of this process, which they ended up finding very therapeutic and relaxing.



(Oversized) Breast Body Cast

Stomach and Thigh Body Cast

(Varicose Veins) Leg Cast

(Bat Wings) Arm Cast