Beata Tworek, Celebrating defiantly beautiful me (ART & CONCEPTUAL 2024)

This triptych follows my personal emotional voyage of adjusting to disability. It is a journey from suffering and bereavement through to slow, compassionate acceptance of the new self. Experience of disability in a society idolising the perfect body is a difficult subject, often provoking uncomfortable emotions of shame, despair, abandonment of valued needs, or a renouncement of social functionality. Until very recently, disability experience had little voice of its own: it functioned as the subject of pity, public “gaze” or popular amusement. Physical imperfections and scars are rarely shown in public domain being considered an issue that best remains hidden. Disability, therefore, often leads to the abandonment of common attributes of attractiveness. Portraying the deformed body in opulent settings disturbs our perception of beauty canons established through fashion photography forcing new interpretations beyond established conventions. Embracing and honouring the flawed body, enhancing scars with golden outlines transforms the repair from a shameful mark into a valuable symbol relishing humanity and vicissitudes of life.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.