LOVE YOURSELF

Photographic and literary project inspired by sociologist Zygmunt Bauman´s publication The Art of Life dealing with the individual´s values in the postmodern liquid times. The book itself tries to introduce personal philosophy and ideas of women having different living conditions. Photographer Dita Pepe explains her own motivation to work on such a project: "I first heard the sentence Love yourself in Germany when I was 19, when I went there as one of the first girls from the Eastern Bloc. I think I explained it to myself as something negative, vain. I was incapable of seeing the context, or the consequences that an unhealthy relationship to oneself brings. For me it was very important not to let those around me down. For others to see me as good, clever, industrious. Why? I guess I wanted people, not just my nearest and dearest, to like me. So I always tried my best. When I started getting into photography I had the chance to get to know lots of interesting people. I realised that new encounters were reshaping my previous opinions. And that photography could have a therapeutic effect. After meeting Jana Drexlerová from the organisation Mammaphelp, and influenced by Zygmunt Bauman’s book The Art of Life, I decided to share my experience of the therapeutic form of photography with other women and in so doing to remind myself once again of the Love yourself theme."