Baring it all: The exhibition empowering women through vulnerability
It’s an exhibition one year (but really, many lifetimes) in the making. Portrait photographer and Mermaid Beach local Analisa Corr started shooting her ‘Women’s Empowerment Exhibition’ last March – now, 30 models, twelve months and countless hours later, it’s ready to be seen… and just in time for International Women’s Day.
Taking place at Mo’s Desert Clubhouse in Burleigh on Saturday March 9, Analisa’s exhibition aims to celebrate the strength, diversity and power of women through a somewhat unlikely medium: boudoir.
“My entire career has been about making women feel better about themselves,” says Analisa, whose passion for storytelling has won her international portrait awards. “Throughout life, emotionally and physically, we’re always covering up. Boudoir is about getting out of your comfort zone and achieving something, capturing the moment they felt the most beautiful.
“I wish society didn’t have the misconception that it’s too racy, too risqué – I mean, we were born naked! It’s cliché, but it’s empowering.”
For Analisa, the exhibition came from a desire to celebrate the women who should be celebrated every day. Just take Stephenie Rodriguez, an international business woman turned motivational speaker who lost both of her feet after contracting cerebral malaria on a work trip in Africa.
“Stephenie came to me and said, ‘I want to make amputees feel beautiful’,” says Analisa. “She can’t make the exhibition because she’s since taken up fencing and is training for the Paralympics in Poland. I shot her really beautifully in the outfit she competes in.”
The exhibition will showcase boudoir portraits of thirty inspirational women, telling their stories not just through photos, but short profiles. It’s been a labour of love for Analisa, who has continued her other portrait jobs while working on the exhibition. She says it’s well worth it.
“Women come to a certain age where they start feeling invisible, which I think is really unfair,” she says. “These photoshoots have been like psychiatry sessions. Every single person I shoot has some special, unique amazing strength that they’ve forgotten about. We forget how much we overcome as women.”
“It’s vulnerable. It’s cathartic.”
Some of the models are former clients of Analisa’s, while others responded to an ad she put out. The vast majority are Gold Coasters, too, with the exception of a few who flew in for the project.
“All of the girls really support each other here – especially in business,” says Analisa, who moved here from Sydney five years ago to ‘escape the rat race’. “We live in this incredible place, which is maybe why the people here are so friendly. You get much further supporting other women than competing with them.”
Speaking about the exhibition, Analisa adds, “To tell women and girls that they can accomplish anything is one thing. To express this sentiment through the portraits and words of women who have overcome adversity is another thing entirely.
“Putting this portrait up on your wall, in your house, to see everyday, reminds you how beautiful, unique and special you are. Even on the bad days this will remind you that it’s all ok. It’s not even a vain thing. It’s empowering. You are exactly where you’re meant to be and everything difficult that you’ve overcome has given you the unique strength that being a woman gives you. The boldness, the compassion, the powerful, the nurturing, the tenacious, the humbleness, the perseverance, the tenderness.”
Don’t miss Analisa Corr’s ‘Women’s Empowerment Exhibition’ at Mo’s Desert Clubhouse this Saturday, March 9 – click here for more information.