“she/her”

I have this friend called Polly. Now, the thing about Polly is that she tolerates my shit like no one else. Not sure how she does it, but she does.

The other thing about Polly is she likes zambreros. Me too Polly.

Okay no but seriously, Polly is my friend who takes pretty bloody cool photos of me. We have this thing where we say to each other “let’d do a shoot!!” and then 6 months go past and we haven’t done the shoot... oops.

Back in March 2020 we had this idea for a photoshoot. We had been sending each other photos on instagram for months. Photos of ideas for this shoot. We packed up ready to hit the road and drove off to Maslin Beach, South Australia. Now for those of you who don’t know, Maslin beach is actually a nudist beach.. pretty cool, pretty cool. But on this day, for some reason we were surrounded by families (clothed) and people walking their dogs (also clothed). Hmmmm.

But we went there with a purpose, and so I stripped off. Our main goal was to showcase the female body, but within reason. We all know social media is way behind the times and if a FEMALE nipple is seen, all hell breaks loose. What a joke right? So our aim was to show as much as we could without revealing my whole body.

My god Polly did more than I could have ever dreamed. The way this girl photographs, wow.

These images made me feel safe in my body. They made me like my body again.

“Don’t save her, she don’t wanna be saved - let’s talk about something positive amongst all this current negativity. Let’s talk about women not needing someone else to make them whole. Let’s talk about strong women working their asses off to make a difference in this world. Let’s talk about women feeling confident in their body and not being “slut” shamed or seen as “sex” symbols (unless they god damn want to). Let’s talk about stretch marks and cellulite being normal and god damn fucking beautiful. Let’s talk about women chasing their dreams and being whoever the fuck they want to be. Let’s talk about women, because it’s our time. Massive massive massive thank you to miss Polly Ashby for allowing me to do a shoot focusing on women’s bodies and how wonderfully constructed they are. We have sooooo many images that I’m so proud of and can’t wait to share with everyone. I am so appreciative of you being in my life.”

Photographer - Polly Ashby

18.3.2020