Wednesday, 3 February 2016

Surburban secrets

Pamela Royce

Amelia Myers

Isabella Strickland

Victoria Bloomisted

All the right junk in all the right places.

2016 a year when yet again we all obsesses with perfect 'ideals' of the human form.

With Kimmy K bums and sculpted rock solid tums, this idea of the power 8 hourglass figure has become more unachievable than ever.

Having a size 6 waist and a size 16 ass is not something we are all born with, and this 'dillema' has caused a dramatic rise in requests for plastic surgery procedures. Including the likes of Brazilian butt lifts, breast augmentations and liposuction at an all time high.

"Women are asking for larger, but more natural-looking breasts as well as enhanced buttocks, rounder hips and slimmer thighs," - Dr. Stephen J. Greenberg (top plastic surgeon)

Over to the holy grail 'thigh gap' desired by seemingly everyone in lulu lemon leggings; this is achieved by 'inner thigh laser lipo' which removes exercise-resistant fat. cute.

And then to waist trainers, a contraption conjured up in the 1500's designed to pinch your waist and hinch your hips. Well they've had a 2016 sprushed-up to become all the instafamous girls latest toy. Although exclaimed "It's unrealistic to expect that these devices can fundamentally change body shape," - Dr. David Hidalgo. But apart from lack- lustre results and damaging health #thewaisttrain doesn't seem like its departing anytime soon.

Plastic surgery shouldn't be seen as an aspiration for a 13 year old watching KUWTK, or flicking through Cosmo. Body standards and oppressive media images are making people feel as if perfection will never ever be achieved. but perfection dose not exist and never will next year huge ankles and tiny thumbs colour be the new rage. Diversity and difference is the most beautiful thing we could ask for.

You are #blessed and #loved so #yolo.

Turquoise the honest colour.

The Color Turquoise

Colour psychology states the meaning of the color turquoise is one of open communication, honesty and clarity of thought. Turquoise helps to open the lines of communication between the heart and the spoken word. It presents as a friendly and happy colour enjoying life.

This is contradictory as turquoise is heavily featured in the interiors of the totalitarian country of North Korea. The eerily fresh, dystopian sterilisation of these images creates a picture of deceptiveness of the corrupt world.

Milk is because milk flows

The milky moustache’s crawling towards their mothers, and then away from their arms; keeping the safety net of warmth and dependancy soaked in lactose.

The primary source of nutrition and life line for the infant mammals.

The antibodies march like soldiers providing protection to the toothless that are growing the roots to become shoots, and then for the shoots to leave.

Continue to consume beyond infancy, using others to settle stomachs of worry and stress, a heavy load lightened by the white water. The elders did not posses the skill of digesting the silky solution, but yet they ignored the calling and continued to swallow. Abnormal. Intolerance. Instead, they call it lactase persistent; this subset of humanity to stay milk drinkers into adulthood.

The roots start to grow back to nostalgia to refuge in that sentiment. They drink the milk to gain the childlike memory and state of comfort reverting back to their youth and reconnect with mothers.
to induce warm sleep and serenity, to become full in an empty room.

Film / Photography
Styling / Production - Chloe Hughes

Music Sampled - Miasma (Baths)

Model - Hebe Iris Blackett

Assisting - Sarah Elizabeth Curran

Milky Mood

Milk is children, Milk is mothers, Milk is the blood of baby brothers.

Milk is sex, Milk is cheap, Milk is what sends them to sleep.

Milk is babies, Milk is white, Milk is the sound sense and sight.

Milk is intolerant, Milk is float, Milk is coating, slicing their throats.

Milk is stong,

Milk is great, Milk is the only thing they ever ate.

The rise of thinsperation sites, has created a 'cult' and a following of the leaded 'ana' (anorexia.) Young teenagers on sites such as Tumblr, Pintrest and Instagram are obsessivly, pinning and posting images of emaciated girls, or suicidal twisted quotes.

These photos represent this, by creating a shrine for ana, the role of the 'superfan' once seen as geeky or childish has exited the room of a 8 year old girl and entered a browser where thousands of people worship their new god.

Mood-board Monday: Storms and saints

Look closer

These photographs aim to create an illusion that there's something more.
I was drawn to the idea of 'looking closer', of removing the materials and the process, and focusing upon the beauty of minute specific areas of texture and appeal. Interested in the way materials reactions to each other.
Investigating ideas of expectations, realities and imagination, and exploring photography as a mechanism; to remove the viewer from the reality of what the image is.

-Hope Barraclough

Stop romanticising mental illness

MENTAL ILLNESS ISN’T A FASHION STATEMENT.

Mental illness is a serious. Deeply damaging. Causing serious health issues or even death. Hashtags of “#DEPRESSION.” “#OCD.” “#ANOREXIC. #BROKEN, are being over used and normalised on social media.

Disorders are becoming both glamorised and hyperbolised. Mental illness is not beautiful. Someone with a mental illness can be beautiful, but the disease itself is torture.

Poems encouraging depression and self-harm are pasted all over blogs, advocating the idea that life is like John Green novel or an episode of Skins, that if you fall apart someone will come and ‘fix’ you. They promote that having a mental disorder makes you mysterious and more attractive, but its not cute and mental illness is not a desirable or an appealing trait.

Thinspersation blogs are one of the most popular online, with images of protruding bones, thigh gaps, and quotes such as “pretty girls don't eat.. trust me”. Encouraging eating disorders and ‘Ana’s teachings’ these are shown to be catalysing diagnosis of Anorexia and Bulimia.

The idealisation of “the perfect body” being one that is close to death, is a completely toxic idea to commend upon somebody. The absorbing and ever scrolling nature of the pages, showing images from popular celebrities to an average unweight girls crippling frames, allows you to believe this images is achievable or that “everyone does it” and that you’re left out.

Histrionic and naïve attitudes are arousing around mental illness due to the glamorisation. Ignorant labelling : Sadness for Depression, Moodiness into Bipolar disorder, nervous behaviours as Anxiety, and restless nights into Insomnia. These terms weaken the seriousness of a life destroying disease. Companies have even gone as far to use mental illnesses as a selling point to drive the latest fashion and novelty trends. T-shirts printed with “Depression” or “Eat Less” were sold in Urban Outfitters in 2014.

This generation needs to realise being “damaged” is not a fashion “trend”. Mental illnesses is not an accessories to self-identity.

Possibly those that do not understand the illnesses are envious of others, and want something that accompanies treatment or attention. But never the less Mental illness isn't a quirky trait. It is not for anyone to beautify. Nor is it unsaturated images with a cursive font and Lana Del Rey lyrics on it.

Stop romanticising it! There is absolutely nothing desirable about having a disease, to be anorexic and have minus energy levels and constantly hiding, to be depressed and never wanting to ever leave your bed and loosing all your friends. ITS NOT COOL

Anyone who is solicitous about their mental well-being should disaffect from their keyboard and instead turn towards someone who can help.

MIND - http://www.mind.org.uk

Anxiety UK - http://www.anxietyuk.org.uk

Beat - http://www.b-eat.co.uk

Bipolar UK - http://www.bipolaruk.org.uk

Body Charity - http://www.bodycharity.co.uk

Depression UK - http://www.depressionuk.org.

Samaritans - http://www.samaritans.org.uk

Nuclear winter

We climbed the ladder of technology, took on the mantle of civilisation and declared ourselves masters of the planet. Then fought to stand the tallest. A laughable game struck by sin, ending in fright, pushing our own self-destructive button. Villages disappeared in a flash and blinking lights of emergency vehicles were dazzled over glossed eyes.

A mushroom burnt above the horizon, the sky blazed with the radiance of a thousand suns. Millions of lives fragmented into ash and shadow. The blanket of smoke climbed up into our atmosphere to cover our planet, in billowing pillows of black clouds and ash.

This winter was once just a theory, a concept, a myth. Yet the frost and breeze have a murderous touch. Terror depends on people being scared, and shock depends on surprise. As we stood in huddles, ‘terrified' hovered on every child's tongue.

We are called the ‘soft targets’, as the others are hard to hit. They ignited their huge uncontrollable fires, and the sky became so alight. Then we softly laid on the rubble, waiting for the sky to break.

The air is black and clouds could drift for weeks before dropping back, or being washed out of the sky-space. This extreme cold bites the flesh, blisters the radiation and widespread destruction. Hunger struck stomachs and sandpaper throats, bloated frames floated in rivers poisoned by the rain. Fallen bodies and left overs laired like feathers between the broken economy.

A nuclear nightmare smothered latitude and longitude, washed up by blackened veil, and dried by suffocating and subfreezing.

There they stand terminally, gazing, longing and waiting for settling dust.