Artist Feature: Lotte Van Raalte
Lotte Van Raalte photographed forty-six women for her recent book project, asking each one “What’s your relationship with your body? What do you think of the current beauty standards? Describe your body as objectively as possible in a few words.” Lotte spoke with us about her project saying, “I sometimes had the feeling that something was missing in my work and I think here is where I found my answers. To not only ‘take’ an image, but also ‘give’ something back. Even for a brief moment.”
Body, Lotte Van Raalte
“This is a reflection and documentation of womanhood at this moment in time. We can relate to the photographs. Inevitably, our eyes are biased. We see the images with all the baggage associated with the female body. We think of weight, gender, beauty, the erotic, or the expected. We cannot avoid that. But can we acknowledge it, as we look at these bodies, all of them beautiful?”
Body, Lotte Van Raalte
Body, Lotte Van Raalte
Q: Share something you learned in creating these images
LVR: The most interesting part of the project was how these 46 women felt and behaved during the shoot itself. Some of them were super nervous. Others very confident. For most of them it was a very liberating experience, I could see them change in front of my lens, which was so beautiful to see and feel. So the biggest reward was when the women told me they felt more happy, confident or content in their bodies after the shoot. Before this book project I sometimes had the feeling that something was missing in my work and I think here is where I found my answers. To not only “take” an image, but also “give” something back. Even for a brief moment.
Besides the photographs, I also interviewed all the women asking the same questions: “What’s your relationship with your body? What do you think of the current beauty standards? Describe your body as objectively as possible in a few words.” Which obviously led to some very intimate, difficult, beautiful and complicated conversations. In addition Lou Stoppard wrote a beautiful essay on the female body for the book that was designed by the amazing Merel Simone.
Q: What does being a feminist mean to you?
LVR: To be quite honest I never labeled myself as a feminist before (as I personally don’t like to put things in boxes and maybe never did proper research before), but after the book release and the response to it I understand why I may be indeed a very strong “a feminist”. How we portray women in art or the fashion & advertisement industry is just as important as who is behind the lens, or behind the brand(s). I’m very happy to be living during this time where I feel there’s huge shifts going on. One of which is the growing amount of women behind the camera. Therefore our visual language of women (previously mainly through the male gaze) is changing as well.
After the book I spontaneously gave my first body positivity and photography workshop at a women’s retreat. So, it’s not only about the photography or the images anymore. It’s about the experience, the talks, what’s underneath the image. What’s underneath our skin. I’m also working on a short film concept about women, what it really means to be a woman and to feel empowered, yet intuitive and sensual at the same time within a patriarchy. So I guess looking at what’s underneath our appearances, our layers, our masks and create beautiful work / examples from this research would mean “being a feminist” to me. And "being a naturalist", which to me goes hand in hand.
LVR: I have a continuous love-hate relationship with the fashion and advertisement industry. It’s obviously an industry I am part of, and strive to be a part of, but on the other hand it’s an industry in which I hope to see tremendous change. Especially the beauty standards and examples for women. What we see in fashion or advertisement, presented as “beautiful” often makes me so confused, it’s so far off from reality. The beauty in impermanence and imperfections, which is so clearly in nature. Therefore I think in every and any way we should look at (and listen to) nature much more than we do. When would you ever say: “That’s an imperfect or ugly flower or tree?” And at the same time we’re so extremely critical to ourselves which costs so much suffering and precious time :)
Body, Lotte Van Raalte
You can view the full work from ‘Body’ in Lotte Van Raalte’s book.
