Culture Ruth Fox On Making Body-Positive Art: ‘I Want My Art To Encourage The Beauty In The Alternative’ Ruth Fox is a contemporary British artist who is challenging our long-held perceptions of beauty one colourful, pastel sketch at a time. Here, she tells her story. By Natalie Cornish Culture Ruth Fox is a contemporary British artist who is challenging our long-held perceptions of beauty one colourful, pastel sketch at a time. Here, she tells her story. By Natalie Cornish Previous article Fern Champion On Fighting For Sexual Violence Survivors: ‘I Do Have Control Of My Story’ Next article 6 Female Activists On How They Found Their Voice “We carry our bodies around our whole lives, yet we’ve carefully sculpted these damaging ideas about what constitutes ‘hot’ or ‘beautiful’ or ‘ideal’. I wanted to draw people who felt awkward, disappointed or ashamed about part of their physical appearance – and do so in a massive window of a gallery space, not only to encourage a sense of empowerment through self-instigated positions of vulnerability, but as a way of laughing (and staring) in the face of it all.“When I first started making work, I didn’t just want it to be just about developing a concept and making a living. I wanted my work have purpose to it and move people, and at the same time, I started getting tired of how we perceive our physical identities and judge our own bodies in a way that can destroy or stroke our egos, based on the ‘beauty system’ – the fantasies executed by advertising, magazines and by us on social media. Many people have started to try and make these fantasies our realities, and I just think we’ve lost the plot! So I wanted to make work that encouraged a solution to this, particularly for women, and which offered different ways of looking at and seeing the body. Finding Your Voice is a special photographic series highlighting female activism. You can read more about Ruth here and follow her @ruth_fox findingyourvoice Best Of Future Women Culture “Invisible victims”: Why Conor was forced to live in an unsafe home By Sally Spicer Culture Miranda*’s mothers group helped her escape abuse. Then the stalking began By Sally Spicer Culture “We can’t change this on our own” By Melanie Dimmitt Culture “Marching forward means ensuring all our voices are heard” By Melanie Dimmitt Culture Dr Ann O’Neill’s husband committed “the ultimate act of revenge” By Sally Spicer Culture The question victim-survivors like me are tired of being asked By Geraldine Bilston Culture The reason Demi Moore’s speech struck a chord with women By Sally Spicer Culture When parenting meets policing By FW Your inbox just got smarter If you’re not a member, sign up to our newsletter to get the best of Future Women in your inbox.
