A bejegyzés megtekintése az Instagramon

 

Daily Mail made a new feature on my ‘Natural Beauty’ project yesterday (link in my stories).
⠀
I’ve posted 2 photos from the project, and archived them. I wasn’t happy with their Engagement. This is the 3rd one I post. It’s one of the ‘strongest’ photos from my ‘Natural Beauty’ project, probably the most viral one. It does make me wonder; Instagram doesn’t represent ‘my work’, it represents ‘my work on Instagram’. It’s the highlights, the viral content, the punchy stuff, the images that look good as a thumb, and will likely to attract more likes. Being on Instagram has been a very interesting learning experience for me. What am I doing here? Am I trying to go viral? Am I trying to share the work that I like? The latter has defiantly proved to be a pointless thing to do; each time I tried to share something I really loved, the engagement fell through. It’s a miserable feeling. No dopamine, no sympathy.
I am trying to be mindful when I post on here, I am trying to be present. I am trying to honest with myself, truthful. It’s hard. It’s very hard and I think it’s a bit of a shame.
I would love to hear from you; what are YOUR thoughts & experience about it?
⠀
Anyway, it’s nice to see ‘Natural Beauty’ going viral again. It’s the 3rd time it’s happening since 2014. It’s a beautiful reminder how this subject and the format of the project is ever so relevant, still. It inspires me and reminds me the power of photography, the impact art has.
⠀
“…Your body is beautiful, you don’t need to burn it with lasers” – Maya Felix, in photograph (2014) See the rest of the project + words by the models on therealbenhopper.com (link in my bio).

Ben Hopper (@benhopper) által megosztott bejegyzés, Ápr 24., 2019, időpont: 4:32 (PDT időzóna szerint)

 

A bejegyzés megtekintése az Instagramon

 

“As a teenager, I remember trying to stuff myself into a box of what a girl should be like. It always felt uncomfortable; padded bras, shoes that hurt and shaving rash. Running, swimming and climbing have helped me to see the strength and resilience in my body and to love it for what it is. Growing my armpit hair has been a recent experiment and the longer it gets, the more I like it! I like the way it looks & feels. It has given me a new respect for myself. So I say, embrace growth & if it pleases you, let it all grow!” ⠀ – Jess Waldman for ‘Natural Beauty’ (October 2018)

Ben Hopper (@benhopper) által megosztott bejegyzés, Ápr 9., 2019, időpont: 5:23 (PDT időzóna szerint)

 

A bejegyzés megtekintése az Instagramon

 

Jess Cummin for ‘Natural Beauty’. Photographed and written January, 2019. Words posted as parts in the comments due to IG character limit. ⠀ (1/2) “I stopped shaving at the age of 18. I was suffering from PTSD as the result of rape and was trying to regain autonomy over my body in any way I knew how. I had also reached a breaking point with the amount of catcalling and sexual advances I was experiencing and was willing to go to any extreme to protect myself from that. It didn’t take long for my body hair to become obvious, and within the space of about a month, I was already noticing the shift in attitude from men towards me, which reinforced the importance of continuing this. It also awoke deep anger and frustration that shaving was an expectancy for women and our beauty was dependant on it. ⠀ It made me feel simultaneously embarrassed and empowered. I struggled with wearing clothing that exposed my armpits unless I was at queer events or around other creatives. I wasn’t yet resilient enough to ignore people whispering about it in public or the double takes from people at the gym. Within my first year of growing my body hair, I shaved several times out of awkwardness, and it has been known to rarely happen even now. ⠀ The like-minded women around me celebrated it and embraced my armpits. It took longer for family and friends to be on board with it (with moments of encouraging me to shave for family events or holidays) but they too came around. Men took no effort in hiding their disgust, they called me ‘dirty, unclean, smelly, feminist(!), gross’ or other things along those lines. They fetishized me in a way that made me feel incredibly uneasy. I had to privatise my social media as fetish accounts were taking photos of my armpits, sharing them and consequently my inboxes were getting clogged up with ‘dick pics’.”

Ben Hopper (@benhopper) által megosztott bejegyzés, Jan 17., 2019, időpont: 9:42 (PST időzóna szerint)

 

A bejegyzés megtekintése az Instagramon

 

“Enlightenment is understanding that there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, and nobody you have to be except exactly who you’re being right now. You are on a journey to nowhere.” – Neale Donald Walsch ⠀ Taken in the Israeli Negev desert on my 33rd birthday for ‘Naked with Masks’. April 13, 2015. Mask by @kloneyourself. Uncensored on therealbenhopper.com (link in bio).

Ben Hopper (@benhopper) által megosztott bejegyzés, Ápr 4., 2019, időpont: 10:32 (PDT időzóna szerint)

 

A bejegyzés megtekintése az Instagramon

 

Eline (Montreal 2016) ⠀ Full uncensored set (22 images) on patreon.com/benhopper (link in my bio)

Ben Hopper (@benhopper) által megosztott bejegyzés, Márc 28., 2019, időpont: 6:07 (PDT időzóna szerint)

 

A bejegyzés megtekintése az Instagramon

 

Remember when armpit hair was still a big deal? ⠀ Sammy for ‘Natural Beauty’ (2014) See full project on therealbenhopper.com (link in my bio)

Ben Hopper (@benhopper) által megosztott bejegyzés, Márc 27., 2019, időpont: 6:43 (PDT időzóna szerint)

 

A bejegyzés megtekintése az Instagramon

 

Kyotocat for ‘Natural Beauty’. June 2017. Words continue in comments due to IG character limit. ⠀ (1/2) “I stopped shaving completely when I was a teenager because of two instances. The first? I got tired of all the time wasted on maintenance and the discomfort that came with it. The second was when I went on a few multiple week-long backpacking trips; it would have been extremely inconvenient to spend hours ripping my hair out, so I let things grow. Being so close to nature let me dive deeper into and re-examine the relationship with myself and the world, acting as a mirror. In nature, there is wild; it is as beautiful as it is untamed. How could it be anything other than that? ⠀ I felt so relieved and free when I let it grow out. It felt like being able to breathe. It was incredibly comfortable too. I felt a confidence and boldness returning, like I was replenishing some kind of primal power. ⠀ People respond to it differently all the time. There are very encouraging/positive reactions—women who have messaged me to thank me for changing their mind and pushing them to challenge their motives/experiment with growing their body hair. Then there are people that start to fetishize it, which can be strange. ⠀ People revere my decision as a feminist and bold political statement, which is ironic, considering how almost everybody has some kind of body hair. It is also funny because I am lazy and keeping it is the path of least resistance. There are people who are exceptionally rude and who speak from fear. People who say it’s dirty and that I must be a man. The more important questions to ponder are rather why and how do we live in a culture/society that has deemed it acceptable for certain people to have body hair, and unacceptable for others? Isn’t it absurd that it is socially acceptable for humans to have lots of hair on their head, but not on other parts of their same body? Isn’t it ridiculous and ironic that what grows naturally on its own is seen as unnatural? How did we get here?”

Ben Hopper (@benhopper) által megosztott bejegyzés, Febr 28., 2019, időpont: 10:52 (PST időzóna szerint)

 

A bejegyzés megtekintése az Instagramon

 

@selftraitor for ‘Naked with Masks’. October 2018. London, UK. Mask from Peru. Uncensored on my website: therealbenhopper.com (link in bio)

Ben Hopper (@benhopper) által megosztott bejegyzés, Febr 18., 2019, időpont: 10:01 (PST időzóna szerint)