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From: A Body Image / Media Literacy Study Guide for BODY TYPED
Writer: Jesse Erica Epstein
Consultants: Dr. Rob Williams Action Coalition for Media Education, John Auerbach
Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
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Activity) Body Image Art Project 2
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Goals: To explore messages about beauty and body image and to facilitate a way for students to share their experience.
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Materials: Origami squares of many colors but equal sizes. Additional origami paper with patterns and any other paper that is available. Scissors, glue sticks and Scotch tape.
Explanation of Materials: Students should use one equivalent sized origami square as a background, and the rest of the paper is to be cut up and pasted on the square to create an image.
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Ask students to close their eyes while you slowly read the following:
Think of a time when you received a message about your body—or there was an expectation about how you "should look." It could be a positive or negative message. How does this message relate to your cultural background? Think of the details -- How old were you? Who was there or was around you? What time of day was it? What colors were there? Which smells? What season was it? If you think of the experience as having a beginning, middle and end, how would you describe the story?
When you have the details in your mind and have thought through the experience with as many visual details as possible, open your eyes and take one origami square. Then, with the rest of the paper, cut and paste to create a visual image that represents the experience.
Wrap-up Discussion Questions:
• Was there anything you learned from the stories as a whole? What were the similarities and differences?
• Did this activity change the way you think about beauty in any way? How?
• How did it feel to have someone tell your story?
• How was it to tell someone else's story?
SEND US PHOTOS OF YOUR CLASS PROJECT @ Epstein.Jesse@Gmail.com
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* This activity is adapted from A Patchwork of Our Lives: Oral History Quilts in Intercultrural Communication, Cynthia Cohen, Cambridge Oral History Project (1999).
