Day 18: Nelly Dedelaite

13 February 2020

What Is Your London?

For many, the idea of London conjures up postcard pictures: the London Eye, Buckingham Palace. However, these depictions of the capital that we’re used to seeing in the media, advertising and the press are outdated. That isn’t the reality for young people living here today. London is nothing without the people that live in it, and each individual has their own story to tell so the participants of Creativity Works: Visual Storytelling were briefed with showing the world what their version of London is, to let the world see their perspective.

This is Nelly's London...

Closer Than Your Shadow

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and yet what we behold with our own bodies leaves much to be desired. The fear that we are in some way inadequate is universal, transcending age and gender, yet it is only us that judge ourselves in the worst ways. These feelings -of insecurity, of vulnerability and of lacking -are highly damaging to everyone’s mental wellbeing. Shame and self-deprecation are so deeply embedded in the human psyche that we forget that we are more than our fleshy prisons.

Speaking about body image is now in some ways easier, but people are still showing their best angles when they can and hiding behind filters and deception. This project aims to confront the body and provide an intimate glimpse of people with their guards down exposing their worst fears about themselves; perhaps for the first time in a while looking at the beauty of what they think is ugly. Your skin is closer than your shadow; it is what you were, what you are and what you will be -myriad scars and self-doubt be damned.