What’s the big deal about a pair of legs? Apparently a lot, according to one New York photographer.
In an incredible photo series called Citi Legs, photographer Stacey Baker has stopped thousands of women on the street to ask if she can take a picture of them– with a particular focus on their legs.
The images, originally part of a personal passion project, have gained a strong following as women worldwide are taking comfort in seeing diverse bodies that look similar– and different– to their own.
Miss Baker says she originally got the idea for ‘Citi Legs’ after she took various images of women around New York and London, and found herself most drawn to the various shapes of the women’s bodies and the ways in which they uniquely dressed up their legs.
“I’d always wanted long, model thin legs, like Christy Turlington,” she told HuffPost. “But my favorite photographs in this project are pictures of legs that have curves — I think some of them look like sculptures. And that’s been good for me to see.”
The Instagram page currently has nearly 70, 000 followers.
Unfortunately, the photo series has also received lots of comments from people attempting to shame the subjects. Miss Baker told The Daily Mail: “I have been alarmed by the number of comments criticizing the women’s bodies. I didn’t foresee that — maybe that was naive of me.
“I think it’s OK to weigh in about what they’re wearing — some of those exchanges are really interesting — but wasn’t intended to be a forum to criticise the subjects’ bodies, and I try to monitor those comments.”
It is the criticism women’s bodies receive that make photo series like this– that normalise bodies of all different shapes and sizes– so important.
Click through the Citi Legs collection here.
Stacey Baker is an associate photo editor at The New York Times Magazine, curating photos and occasionally contributing to the Times Magazine’s ’The 6th Floor’ blog. You can view more of her work here and follow her on Instagram here.
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