Gaga images part of new body dysmorphia exhibition

[PunkTheFunk 122,398]

A little random, but this story is right on the BBC News homepage under 'Must See' 

...

Body dysmorphia: Artists tackle distorted self perceptions

In January 2009, photographer Derrick Santini was offered a magazine shoot with an unknown US singer.

"I'd never heard of Lady Gaga when the job came up," he tells BBC News. "Of course, two months later, everyone knew her."

At the time she posed for the portraits, Gaga was on the brink of releasing her debut single Just Dance - which became the first of several monster hits.

Santini, who has also photographed Adele, Mary J Blige and Idris Elba, was commissioned to shoot Gaga for The Sun's recently launched Fabulous magazine.

"Everything was slightly exaggerated with her," Santini recalls. "We pumped up the colours, we went for this very poppy background, these obviously quite full-on outfits."

"She knew what she wanted, she was really a pro, it was clear, she was so on her image and what she was doing all the time, there was no messing about."

The images documented how Gaga uses fashion, art and performance to express radically different identities.

Nearly 10 years on, they are being used as part of a new exhibition about body dysmorphia - a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance.

Gaga is certainly an icon of fashion and glamour - but she has spoken openly about her struggles with bulimia and anorexia in the past.

"I wasn't aware of her issues back then," says Santini, "or maybe body dysmorphia as a term wasn't around so much then.

"She's had her issues with it, and I think it's kind of like the general thing about identity, we are all self-conscious, we are all documenting ourselves all the time.

"And so this incredible introspection of ourselves is going on, so in a way it's morphing in the mind - what you think you look like, how you think you appear, that's the crux of body dysmorphia."

Santini's images of Gaga, some of which haven't been seen before, form part of Identity - a new exhibition at London's Zebra One Gallery.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-46036519

[freebit 6,084]

The fact that she has always had a concept and message in mind with her image (even at the age of 22) is always so impressive to me. 

Anyway, before I clicked this thread I had assumed they had chosen some of the Eli Russel Linnetz images, like this would have been the most fitting:

^I especially loved that she just used this for IG (presumably) because it represents the times perfectly.

[Space Cowboy 11,670]

The body revolution in 2012 was also pretty cool too

[VTV 11,270]

Ugh her mind

[Pierre 10,480]

Kawakubo x Gaga x Santini.

[Killa 14,731]

weve been so blessed, like i cant even

[Helxig 40,442]

5 hours ago, freebit said:

The fact that she has always had a concept and message in mind with her image (even at the age of 22) is always so impressive to me. 

Anyway, before I clicked this thread I had assumed they had chosen some of the Eli Russel Linnetz images, like this would have been the most fitting:

^I especially loved that she just used this for IG (presumably) because it represents the times perfectly.

That's what I assumed too!

Because when I first saw these pics of her, and how they were edited, I immediately thought of body dysmorphia. 

[nerdfacekillah 4,376]

since she was 22 she had everything planned to work for her career while im soon to be 22 and have done nothing in my life and feel like total sh!t

[judxs 762]

38 minutes ago, nerdfacekillah said:

since she was 22 she had everything planned to work for her career while im soon to be 22 and have done nothing in my life and feel like total sh!t

don't worry about it, i'm 24 and i still don't have my sh!t together