Culture & ArtsSubstantia Jones the adipositivity project

These Photos Beautifully 'Demystify The Fat Body' (NSFW)

"I’m working on helping people love their bodies, and allowing others to love their own."
Noah Michelson
By 

Editorial Director, HuffPost Personal

Warning: This article contains nude images and may be inappropriate for work.

In a recent HuffPost Love+Sex Podcast, co-hosts Carina Kolodny and Noah Michelson spoke with several people who identify as overweight about their experiences with love, sex and body image.

One of these people, Substantia Jones, is a photographer who launched The AdiPositivity Project in 2007. Jones says the mission of the project is to "combat sizeist bigotry and weight-related misinformation, and to promote body love and the recognition of an individual’s body autonomy as well as to promote critical thinking about the role that commerce plays in the dissemination of medical science and 'health reporting.'"

We chatted with Jones about her stunning work, the inspiration for The AdiPositivity Project and more. Check out her photos below while you listen to the podcast:

Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project
"It’s no secret anywhere you look, you see that photography is a commonly used tool for creating body shame. I like to subvert that tool and use it to demystify the fat body."
Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project
Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project
"I’m going to have to paraphrase this but, the writer Junot Diaz said 'If you want to create a monster out of a human being, deny them at the cultural level any representation of themselves.' That is a really good essential look at why visibility is so important. And it’s unfortunately too often denied by the media, denied fat people by the media and popular culture. So I’m working on helping people love their bodies, and allowing others to love their own."
Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project
Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project
"In describing the project I often say the project is part fat, part feminism, and part fuck you... People still get upset by nudity. I tell them nudity is not sex, sex is not porn, and porn is not evil. And I find that a lot of people don’t get that. If they see a naked body, they think it should be sexualized or is being sexualized."
Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project
"I started taking these pictures and posting them on the website, I soon realized I maybe wasn’t speaking to the general public in the way that I had hoped. But I was speaking to fat people and I immediately starting hearing from fat people from all over the world [and they told] me about body shame, body shame at a level that I had never experienced or even realized existed."
Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project
"[I heard] from one woman in particular who told me that the morning she discovered the website was the first morning she had not cried about her body, in memory. And that will stay with me forever and I continue to hear from people telling me these things everyday. So that’s when I realized it’s the subjects themselves that I’m really speaking to and that I need to speak to."
Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project
Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project
"The rule is, if you promise me you’re fat and you can get to me and my camera, I will photograph you for the Adipositivity Project."
Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project

If you want to download and/or listen to the podcast offline, head to iTunes or Stitcher.

This podcast was produced by Katelyn Bogucki and edited by Nick Offenberg. Production assistance and design was provided by Lauren Bell.

Like Love + Sex? Subscribe, rate and review our podcast on iTunes.

Have an idea for an episode? Find us on Twitter at @HuffPostPodcast or email us at loveandsexpodcast@huffingtonpost.com.

Also on HuffPost:

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