Curves: The New Book That Celebrates Every Type of Body
Photographer Victoria Janashvili’s new book, Curves. (Photo: Victoria Janashvili)
In her work as a photographer, Victoria Janashvili has taken pictures of some of the most gorgeous women in the world for magazines such as Men’s Health, GQ, and Sports Illustrated. However, behind-the-scenes the photographer has seen firsthand that confidence is hard to come by, no matter who you are. “Confidence is a trait that is hard to build and maintain,” Janashvili writes about her new book Curves. “Many women and men around the world struggle with body acceptance and self-love instead of embracing every curve they represent.” Janashvili’s photographs aim to change that, both for the women posing for her and those who view her empowering images.
An image from Victoria Janashvili’s new book, Curves. (Photo: Victoria Janashvili)
One of the reasons Janashvili’s images are so inspiring is that she celebrates real female bodies, including plus-sized women. Not only do the women in her portraits all look beautiful regardless of their size, but they also convey a sense of strength…and confidence. “My work celebrates women of all shapes and sizes, including many plus-sized models. I believe that beauty comes from confidence, not from your dress size, skin color or date of birth,” Janashvili tells Yahoo Beauty. “I shoot beautiful women of all sizes in my day-to-day work and want to help change the rest of the world’s perception on size as well.”
However, while many curvy women have applauded her images, they have also used them to claim larger bodies as better than skinny ones, an approach that Janashvili wasn’t happy about. “Some of my images that I had taken of plus sized models were being used in a way that I didn’t agree with - with “bigger is better” type slogans written over the image,” Janashvili explains. “In my opinion, bigger isn’t better nor is skinny better - all women are beautiful regardless of size, shape, age, race, etc. I wanted to be able to do what I could to help the world see this.”
Photographer Victoria Janashvili. (Photo: Yulia Miroshnikova)
The experience inspired her to do a book that not only clearly celebrates all bodies, but that goes one step further making it about more than just the exterior image. Janashvili asked each woman to share their stories and challenges, revealing their inner strength. “Each woman in the book made themselves vulnerable in order to help get this message of self love across,” Janashvili says. “The testimonies in the book share intimate stories from the women on how they found their own self confidence and different things that they had to go through in order to get to that place. It’s a book that’s meant to empower, a book meant more so for women than for men.”
The book’s message resonated from the inception. Janashvili was able to self-publish the book through a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $40,000 from 727 backers.
Many of the images in Curve, although not all, are nude portraits, something Janashvili said served a larger purpose: “We shot nude to help bare it all and to show that every curve on every woman is beautiful.” What does she hope people will take from Curve? “Ultimately for people to feel comfortable in their own skin. I want to show that it’s not the exterior that makes you a beautiful person. I wish that someone had put this book in front of me when I was a teenager.”
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