Video interview with Emma Roche

The spread and the influence of the mass media have had many consequences in our society, both on the individual and global level. Numerous studies show that being exposed to images of “ideal” body harms our perception of other and our bodies.

Awareness of these issues has led to many artists and photographers taking upon themselves to break the conventional body image. In their projects, they are exploring bodies in unusual ways, showing us the imperfections that we never see in the media.

Emma Roche, an artist who particularly grabbed my attention is a Dublin-based photography student. Emma’s work is focusing on feminist issues, such as portrayal and over-sexualisation of women’s bodies in the media.

Her website shows self-portrait projects that deal with the issues of body perception, with each project revolving around Emma and her body in an environment around her.

To hear more about her work and inspirations, watch the video above. In it, she explains her views on the topic, her inspirations, and her hopes for the media in the future.

To let the work speak for itself, here two of Emma’s projects that are dealing with the conception of body image in the media.

“EXPRESSION is a self-portraiture project that serves as a comment on the pressure women feel to look a certain way. This pressure usually stems from how women are represented in the media. These images are expressing how Emma feels about being a woman in today’s age.”

“Bad taste is a series of self-portraits. These images represent Emma’s sexuality and her choice to express herself sexually to others. Often in the Christian community, a woman is not taught to be sexual. These images represent the difficulty of being involved in a Christian community and feeling shamed by your sexual choices. These pictures celebrate an almost religious ecstasy of being comfortable with your sexual identity and investigating your religion.”

It is always amazing to see talented young artists breaking the mainstream perceptions. With her work, Emma is spreading awareness and challenging and changing cultural norms and perception. She is showing her audience how our bodies are not always perfect and do not always serve as sexual objects.

For more of Emma’s work visit her website and follow her on social media, and make sure you keep an eye on her new zine project Blue on her Instagram.

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