What is normal? Does normality even exist – and if so, by whom or what is it defined? Mathilda Rech has been dealing with these and similar questions since she was eleven.
Because at this age people of all sexes slowly but surely begin to grow hair. And not only on parts of the body that we are used to. They make their way into the cavities and intimate spheres of our bodies, where they first appear as fine down and later as adult hair.
Everyone experiences this development. Normally, however, it only applies to a part of society – especially the male. Mathilda first felt this when she herself became hairier at the beginning of puberty. But while she herself watched this development motionless, it was the reaction of those around her that made her think:
"My classmates or friends would stare at my legs or armpits and sometimes comment on them"
This is how the 17-year-old remembers. It didn't stop with my peers: "Adults told me to shave my hair because nobody else would find me attractive. Everything indicated that it was gross."
But instead of accepting these assumptions, she began to question them at a young age: "I don't want to feel like I should hide the true nature of my body. I want to finally let my body be the way it is and not have to keep hiding it or changing it, "Mathilda is clear.
That is why the young artist decides to take a closer look where others look the other way. She takes close-ups of her body, from fine hairs to cellulite and stretch marks. Mathilda wants to make it clear "that we all have so-called" flaws ", but it is precisely these that make us unique and perfect in our own way. I feel best when I let my body be and grow the way it is natural. "
So the artist photographs everything that other years have hidden under long pants and shirts or laboriously removed every day: Mathilda's pictures not only show a woman's natural body hair but also what beauty it can be:
My goal is to create art that stimulates the viewer to think. That is exactly what I want to do with "Amour Propre": to make people think and reflect about the female body and to change the perception of it in our society.