This photographer is using Instagram to promote positive body image

All photos via Instagram/ladyist

Pubic hair, stretch marks and cellulite: Ashley Armitage isn’t afraid of any of it. The Seattle-based photographer uses her Instagram account as a platform for her models – mostly teenaged girls – to showcase their bodies, just as they are.

“I’m interested in creating a platform for girls, by girls, completely the female gaze,” Armitage tells Refinery29. “I’m giving the woman power, not taking it from her.”

Scrolling through her feed is like watching the dreamy outtakes of a Sofia Coppola movie – without editing out things like underarm hair and stretch marks. The images are raw with a rose-tinged filter that make them distinctly artful. That said, Armitage purposely uses Instagram as a platform, to allow for a conversation – both positive and negative – to play out.

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“It started positive,” she tells Refinery29. “A bunch of women said ‘amen,’ ‘thank you so much,’ 'we need this type of representation.’” But it wasn’t long before the Internet trolls began to roll in. “I was watching every single commenter, and there were 45-year-old dads with Instagram photos on their profiles with their daughters and their wives. They were commenting on this photo of my 17-year-old friend, calling her a whore,“ Armitage says.

Despite the negative feedback, Armitage continues to post her art. "Posting that photo and receiving the slew of negative comments confirmed that this is what I need to keep doing, and this is what needs to be done,” she says. “There were a lot of real powerful ladies chiming in, saying, 'thank you so much.’”

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