An ongoing personal project exploring the process by which people reclaim their bodies. This project studies the fragility and endurance of the human form and the acceptance of self within African communities.
Through childhood, puberty and adulthood, we try to learn how to recognise and accept our bodies. Then 'something' happens, accidental or intentional and there is a process of learning again. Over the years, there grows a global movement around body positivity, mental health, self-awareness - topics that are still often hushed or avoided within African homes. I am exploring how community, environment, and socioeconomic class influence an individual’s psychological adjustment to their new, scarred bodies, while marking the absence of an effusive culture around body positivity as a noteworthy cultural phenomenon.
Relearning Bodies began in 2017 and is ongoing. The project has since evolved, now honing in on the details of scars alone. It seeks to establish a connection between the patterns etched on the skin and those in nature. The objective is to highlight the parallels between the healing process of our bodies and the pre-existing patterns in the natural world. By doing so, the project aims to demonstrate that the inherent way our bodies regenerate is a natural phenomenon, and society can and should recognize and embrace it as such.
