In our culture we are bombarded with advertising on a daily basis; magazine covers, billboards, bus stops,internet, tv. EVERYWHERE. The perpetuation of achieving happiness and success through cosmetics is thrown at us. We must have flawless skin. We must have shiny flowing hair. We must have a ‘bikini body’. We must have white teeth. We must have long eyelashes. We must have hairless bodies. We must have long legs. We must have cleavage. We must have fashionable clothes. We must look our best – which seems to translate as – we must buy everything the adverts tell us to buy. Then, and only then, can we stand up tall and walk proudly out of our homes, feeling confident, and most importantly, beautiful.

Okay so what happens if I buy into this. If I buy all these cosmetics and clothes and when I look in the mirror I don’t look like the advertisements. What if I’m still chubby? What if I still have acne? What if it rains and my smooth silky hair becomes a tangled afro? Then what? When does being natural equate ugliness and being fake equate beauty?

What if women could feel comfortable and confident in wearing their inside (or home) clothes outside? And realize that spending an hour to get ready to leave the house isn’t necessary. We are trained to think that tight clothes and makeup is attractive and is consdiered making an effort.  We know if we don’t make this effort then we’re ridiculed. We don’t see photographs of ordinary women in ordinary home clothes on billboards or in magazines. If we do, it’s usually a before and after shot for some diet pill or acne pill. I want to circulate images of beautiful women without makeup into the world. But in contrast I want to show these natural beauties alongside their perceived beautiful sense. The following images are the first to emerge from my project, ‘In Real Life’. Meet the inside beauties and their outside counterparts. As you’ll see, everyone is different:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.