Sois Belle

I began to reconsider how female beauty could be represented by redefining the concepts of what is considered as being beautiful.

Since I obtained my master's degree in Photography, I have been working on the

project 'SOIS BELLE'. It is about body language, forms, sensitivity, true beauty,

colors and identity. In 2010 I started to work on this project as it was clear to me that

we as a society had a serious problem with true identity, as women were comparing

themselves to retouched images that don’t show reality. I began to reconsider how

female beauty could be represented by redefining the concepts of what is considered

as being beautiful. At that time, in many magazines, women had to be perfect,

beautiful and slim. I think it is confusing to be confronted with manipulated images as

we start to believe in false reality. For me it has always been my personal goal to

show the truly genuine beauty of people including their natural way of being. That's

what gives them their uniqueness, because they’re perfect the way they are.

It is the soul of the women I'm working with that shows itself through the images I

create, even without showing their faces. I let them play in this scenery, in these

enchanting landscapes, where they can find themselves again, where they can love

themselves the way they are. Body and nature intertwine and become one with each

other.

My goal is to make people feel joy and happiness when watching my work, which is

why I show authentic bodies, as to evoke the feeling of being free to live, play and

love. I like to remind people of the importance of playfulness in life. For that it

is a long, long quest to find the suitable location, where maybe there is a flamingo

dancing or an elephant having a cup of tea in this beautiful scenery.

The next research is always about the role of my beautiful friend (model) and how to

make a mesmerising match between the beauty of the body, the color of skin,

clothing and landscape, as well as the serendipity of this exact moment in time and

space.

Sois Belle by annelie vandendael

Prev Next Close