The We.Women photo series is a collaboration between Rekasiute, actress Beata Tiskevic Hasanova and communications specialist Modesta Kairyte. For Rekasiute, it was a chance to confront the stringent beauty standards that women are faced with, and how we see our bodies – lived in, damaged, beautiful. The women featured all had a story to tell.
As Rekasiute writes on her website, “Each woman shared her hurtful and profound stories; they fought with physical and mental experiences such as fat-shaming, skinny-shaming, vitiligo, anorexia, bulimia, depression, self-harm and breast cancer.”
The project came about through a discussion between Rekasiute and Hasanova. As Rekasiute told The Huffington Post, “Beata showed me this drawing of a woman looking into the mirror and there were words written on her body: the words which throughout her life she heard addressed about her ‘imperfect’ body. Beata and I had been discussing extensively how much Lithuania needs an empowering project for women,” she said.
The women, who came to Rekasiute through an open call on the Facebook page of Beata Tiskevic Hasanova, were photographed from behind, their reflection facing the camera. Some women looked directly at themselves, others looked down or away. The women have scars and tattoos and their bodies have been both looked after and treated badly. As Mic notes, “The psychological consequence of all this judgement on women’s self-esteem is noticeable.”
Rekasiute wanted to see what the women saw, when they were alone and away from the expectations of a world that sells impossible beauty standards to women – be it in the form of thigh gaps, skin lightening creams and Hollywood’s age problem.
Her hope is that women will see – and accept – themselves, exactly as they are.
“This project seeks to inspire women to accept and love their bodies as they are: with all their inner and outer scars,” Rekasiute writes.
