kemi west
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Beauty is what you make it: A lesson on beauty from the Mangbetu Tribe

8/7/2018

0 Comments

 
Here's the thing, I've come across atleast three exhibitions where body confidence and beauty were the subject matter. Somehow they awakened some of the personal experience of body confidence I encountered in my younger years. This issue of body confidence, is what attracted me to all things imperfect, which I've come to love and led me to my craft.  Now, I deliberately sought out imperfect things in life just to examine its intrinsic beauty  and have discovered some amazing things along the way.

Being 5 ft 10.5 inches tall at a time when being tall wasn't as common as it is today and being slim, when being voluptuous was the order of the day, was no joke. I got my fair share of tall remarks, but being smart-mouthed, I gave as good as I got.

Another thing that got me unwanted attention was the shape of my head, to the point where a friend once remarked that she could find me easily in a crowd because of the special shape of my head. I took her comment as a compliment, but the young me, may have thought otherwise. This is purely because as an adult, I'd experienced so much in life that having a head, any head at all, was a huge blessing!

Despite my body confidence experience, I've never allowed anyone to put me down for how I look, because I know I have no control over the features God chose to give me. Infact, anytime someone made a remark about the shape of my head I often gave them a smart remark saying 'only smart people are blessed with features like mine!'. Little did I know that the Mangbetu people from the Democratic Republic of Congo actually lived by this principle as they practiced the art of skull elongation. To the untrained eye, the elongated skull looks like a major skull deformity but to the Mangbetu people, it represents higher intelligence, beauty and is seen as a status symbol among the ruling class. Imagine that! A head shaped for royalty! Discovering the Mangbetu tribe is a refreshing find.

In today's society, it is fair to say, there is a certain standard which is associated with beauty and if an individual doesn't fall into those standards of beauty, then 'Houston we've got a problem!' So, imagine my joy when I came across a beautiful exhibition on the Mangbetu people by artist Eddy Kamuanga llunga. I first came across his work in 2016 when he exhibited at October gallery in London. Other people may have recently discovered him as he exhibited again at the same gallery a few months ago. You can find his work on my blog post for 04/08/16. Basically his illustrations brought out the beauty of this tribe and made me grateful for every part of my body.

The bottom-line is this, beauty is how you see it and if anyone has a problem with your definition of beauty, that is their problem, not yours. I've posted a picture below of me loving my 'God-given' head. I must stress that like everyone else, I still have the odd days when I wrestle with 'SELF', but who doesn't! The key thing is to accept one's self as no one will do it for you.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.


    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    October 2015
    August 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014

    Categories

    All

    Picture
    Welcome to my blog, where I share things that inspire me. My faith, nature and the simple or imperfect things in life, are what brings me joy and inspire me to create. I  look forward to sharing my inspirations with you. Thanks for stopping by!

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact