This project delves into the deeply personal and complex topic of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) through the medium of interpretive photography. Initially inspired by broader reflections on body image, the focus shifted organically to BDD—a disorder that captured my interest and resonated with my own struggles around self-perception. While I can't pinpoint exactly how I discovered BDD, its profound psychological and emotional impact became a central theme of exploration in my work.

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Many people grapple with body image challenges, myself included. It’s a universal experience to compare oneself to others and wish for different features, even in the face of reassurances from loved ones. However, for individuals with BDD, this struggle is amplified to an overwhelming degree. They fixate on real or imagined flaws for hours every day, experiencing negative thoughts so pervasive that they disrupt their emotional well-being and daily life. This level of internal conflict and self-criticism became the driving force behind my creative process.

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In this project, I sought to translate these feelings into visual form, experimenting with various approaches to represent the distorted self-perception experienced by those with BDD. A pivotal inspiration came from the quote, "Insecurity kills all that is beautiful." This led me to work with flowers, which I see as some of the most inherently beautiful elements of nature. The flowers symbolize individuals with BDD, their beauty overshadowed or transformed by self-doubt.

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Through distortion, fragmentation, and abstraction, I used the flowers to embody the tension between external beauty and internal perception. Some images evoke chaos and distortion, while others appear deceptively “normal,” reflecting the complex and varied ways people with BDD may view themselves. This experimentation allowed me to create a series of photographs that visually interpret the emotional landscape of BDD, offering both a personal and empathetic lens into the experience of living with this disorder.