Participation Reflection | Dear Body: Body Image Painting Workshop

By Emily C / JRF Volunteer

Participating in this workshop as a volunteer was a very special and heartwarming experience. At first, my main responsibilities were setting up the venue and helping the event run smoothly. With encouragement from the JRF, however, I sat down with everyone else, picked up a paintbrush, and joined this creative dialogue with the body.

To be honest, I am not usually good at drawing, and when I first received the paper, I worried that my drawing would look terrible. The atmosphere was very relaxed, however, and everyone was deeply focused on their own work. This allowed me to gradually release my anxiety and begin enjoying the process. The workshop was built around a wonderful idea: transforming the parts of our bodies that we dislike into other forms of beautiful imagery. In everyday life, most of us have some anxiety about our appearance or figure. This exercise gave us an opportunity to reconsider those perceived “imperfections.”

While drawing, I thought about the acne scars that had always bothered me. When I look in the mirror, I usually see them as flaws and try everything I can to conceal them. This time, however, I drew them as flowers blooming across my cheeks and neck. As I colored the flowers and gave the marks new meaning, they suddenly seemed far less unpleasant. Together with the “Dear Body” postcard we wrote during the workshop, the exercise made me realize that we should thank our bodies more often for accompanying and supporting us, instead of only criticizing them.

Although my drawing was simple, the entire process felt deeply healing and meaningful. It was more than a drawing activity; it was an exercise in self-acceptance. I am glad that, in addition to helping behind the scenes, I was able to participate and leave with new inspiration. I hope that whenever I feel anxious about my appearance in the future, I will remember the little flowers on my drawing and look at my body with greater kindness.

At the beginning of the workshop, the instructor spoke gently and calmly about the evolution of modern beauty standards. From Marilyn Monroe to Twiggy, she explained how the fashion industry’s portrayal of beauty has never remained static. She also drew on personal experiences—including undergoing treatment for scoliosis and being encouraged by older relatives during puberty to drink green papaya soup—to introduce the workshop’s central theme: individual differences.

When the instructor displayed a photograph of several apples and pointed out that not one of them was symmetrical, I suddenly realized that nature gives every living being its own uniqueness. When we view our bodies through the lens of conventional beauty standards, we tend to scrutinize and magnify the parts that do not conform to socially defined ideas of beauty. Yet our bodies are always changing at different stages of life—for example, when we are healthy or ill, young or old, menstruating or not. Beauty has never had only one definition. Why not practice seeing our bodies as they naturally are?

During the preliminary drawing exercise, the instructor guided us in depicting three bodily states: youth, pregnancy, and illness. I drew myself with eight-pack abs, cradling a pregnant belly, and lying in a hospital bed with an IV drip. Later, the instructor showed how she represented these states through the concepts of cell proliferation, the Big Bang, and flowing water. I suddenly understood that artistic expression does not have to reproduce physical appearance. Once we let go of rigid ideas about body image, our ways of imagining the body can be abstract and free.

Although I am slender and have a BMI within the normal range, I have been dissatisfied with my body because of the double chin that appears whenever I tilt my head slightly downward, my less-than-full breasts, and my sturdy legs. After participating in the workshop, I realized that I could be kinder to my body: a double chin can be cute, a flat chest makes exercise convenient, and strong legs can carry me a thousand miles. These characteristics make each person unique. I am grateful that the workshop reshaped my sense of beauty. I will carry these insights with me and practice appreciating every person and every body, including my own.

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By: JRF Volunteer / Volunteer Hsiao

Participating in this workshop as a volunteer was a very special and heartwarming experience. At first, my main responsibilities were setting up the venue and helping the event run smoothly. With encouragement from the JRF, however, I sat down with everyone else, picked up a paintbrush, and joined this creative dialogue with the body.

To be honest, I am not usually good at drawing, and when I first received the paper, I worried that my drawing would look terrible. The atmosphere was very relaxed, however, and everyone was deeply focused on their own work. This allowed me to gradually release my anxiety and begin enjoying the process. The workshop was built around a wonderful idea: transforming the parts of our bodies that we dislike into other forms of beautiful imagery. In everyday life, most of us have some anxiety about our appearance or figure. This exercise gave us an opportunity to reconsider those perceived “imperfections.”

While drawing, I thought about the acne scars that had always bothered me. When I look in the mirror, I usually see them as flaws and try everything I can to conceal them. This time, however, I drew them as flowers blooming across my cheeks and neck. As I colored the flowers and gave the marks new meaning, they suddenly seemed far less unpleasant. Together with the “Dear Body” postcard we wrote during the workshop, the exercise made me realize that we should thank our bodies more often for accompanying and supporting us, instead of only criticizing them.

Although my drawing was simple, the entire process felt deeply healing and meaningful. It was more than a drawing activity; it was an exercise in self-acceptance. I am glad that, in addition to helping behind the scenes, I was able to participate and leave with new inspiration. I hope that whenever I feel anxious about my appearance in the future, I will remember the little flowers on my drawing and look at my body with greater kindness.