Why I have painted Teer Wayde

I first came across Teer Wayde on instagram, it was like finding a gem. She is like those kinda girl you will look twice, maybe three times, all because you will have the sudden realisation of what we miss seeing in fashion scene.

She reminded me of Nüwa, a goddess in Chinese mythology who best known for creating mankind and mended the sky. I have always pictured a strong and kind woman who can hold the sky with single hand.

She also reminded me of Bettie Page, the symbol of desire, a quality modern women are not afraid to show.

I have painted her to remind ourselves about the many faces of beauty. In her case, a strong spirit on top of the world,  without a fear to display female desire.

Apart from my personal reasons which have drawn me to Teer, there are plenty social issues I want to talk about with my artwork:

There are still not enough public images to promote body size diversity.

It’s been a while since we first noticed the media is brainwashing us to appreciate thin and long body type (and that only). Not much has changed. Today’s modeling world is still dominated by a particular body type. This is also effecting the art world. Many contemporary artists are using marketing materials as their inspirations. I can understand because they often have good quality photographs. But the result is once again, we see endless portraits of the same pretty skinny girl you find on the magazines.

The media is not going to help us, unless we help ourselves first.

Often I hear ladies talking about how they don’t bother dress up because they will never look like those models. Quite the opposite, curvy girls can dressed in style, in a way that skinny girls can’t. But if you don’t dress up, showing your awesomeness to the world, who is going to inspire other girls in similar body type to spread the fashion?

I want to leave you with the artwork so you can appreciate the beauty Teer has bring us. Read more about the artwork details here, including the photographer who took the photo I used as reference.