Under the Burden of Beauty | A Mixed Media Art Project

For my current mixed media art project, "Loss of Identity", I wanted to share my version of being unsure of oneself in an unfamiliar environment. In a world full of beauty, one can easily lose herself under the pressure of society's definition of beauty.

From a young age, females are taught the meaning of beauty. Where they fit in this vicious maze is amplified by other children and adults alike who reinforce their ideas of the nature and definition of what it means to be accepted as beautiful.

In recent decades, body shaming has become a serious issue for young girls and women who suffer the embarrassment and harassment of not being the "typical" ideal body form that has been defined as pleasing to others.

Under this burden, mental and physical strain has occurred that can develop into serious health and identify issues.

Females can develop low self-esteem and shame of one's own physical form. They may become reticent and socially distant. Not only that, society has placed restraints on females, and to some extent males also, when in public places.

Take for instance when riding public transportation. On airlines, one may be required to purchase an additional seat if not able to fit into the standard ones designed for one-size fit all.

Finally, individuals, especially females have endured jokes and jeers from family members, peers, co-workers, and the general public based solely on their outer appearance.

However, the most cruel instances that society has heaped upon the concept of beauty is that individuals cab be denied employment and advancement opportunities based on their external appearance. Also, some employment positions are geared toward the outer appearance. If not deemed satisfactory, then those individuals need not apply.

I know these events from experience having been employed in a corporate environment for more than 35 years. I watched first hand the treatment of numerous, excellent employees and co-workers on both sides of the isles, some victims of shaming, and the others who perpetrated the abusive behaviors.

I have to point out that society has made some advances in the past few decades to address this issue. But the long-standing views of some in the general public still hasn't shed its prejudices.

Is it fair? Not in the least. This is true when male counterparts have been conditioned from a young age on what beauty encompasses. Females that don't fit this stereotype is often overlooked due to only their external physical appearance.

One should first look internally to seek pleasing qualities that can be defined as beautiful.

In addressing my mixed media art project, I chose the view of being forced to retreat to the rear among the elements of beauty. To achieve this design, I retrieved a skull's head and two other stable diffusion images from the stable diffusion program, StarryAI, to present opposite views.

Below are my steps:

StarryAi Text input:
"Bronze flower large with skeletons hanging on its stems hyper-detailed in fantasy."

Style: Fantasy:
Quality: Fast
Seed: 1429558915
Image Strength: 15

StarryAI Result:

Two beautiful and unique pure fractal I created in the advanced version of the fractal rendering software, Apophysis 7X, were included to represent beauty.

^{Bronze Rings ~ Six Point Star ~ Abstract background}

I then utilized Canva to blend the different type images. I leave with you my procedures which begin with a blank, white canvas. I then add layers of elements in accordance with my upgraded Annual Pro Membership that includes tools to remove backgrounds, resize, filter, duplicate, and reposition items as required. Perhaps of all the tools, the ability to remove backgrounds thereby creating transparencies of the images is crucial to the blending process.

I share with you my completed design:

Thanks for taking the time to view my post. I hope you like my mixed media art project.