EmbodyING Empowerment
OCA Mocha is excited to collaborate with Love Your Vessel to bring to life the “Embodying Empowerment” exhibition, which celebrates our bodies.
Every one of us is different; we come in different shapes, shades, and sizes. It is easy in today’s world to get lost in the thought of what is ‘perfect'. Every form that we as humans take is worthy of love and praise. Art, like ourselves, is unique; no two pieces are exactly the same and our minds appreciate that. Our bodies are works of art that breathe and move in the natural gallery that is the world. No one should be held back by society’s ever shifting gaze of approval because at the end of the day, we exist as perfect beings as we are.
Love Your Vessel International is an organization that utilizes the transformative power of the creative arts to promote empowerment, self-love, and body acceptance through yoga, art exhibitions, self-love photography, events, talks, workshops, and retreats. The core mission is to uplift individuals while combating unrealistic beauty standards and spreading awareness of eating disorders.
At OCA Mocha, all bodies are welcome. Our community and artists are celebrating the greatness within each and every one of us. We’re proud to partner with Love Your Vessel to create a space to love and appreciate the beauty of the body.
Curated by Alexis Tyson, Graphic Design, UMBC 2024
&
Martina Maya-Callen, Founder, Love Your Vessel International
This gallery exhibit features works that explicitly reference eating disorders and contain depictions of partially nude bodies. If you have a difficult reaction, we encourage you to contact the UMBC Counseling Center or other support systems to which you may have access. The UMBC Counseling Center can be reached at (410) 455-2542 on weekdays, 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.; the after-hours support line can be reached at (410) 455-3230 (for students only). The National Eating Disorder Association's hotline can be reached by text or phone at (800) 931-2237.
Karen Peacock
Down The Rabbit Hole and Equinox
Mixed Media with Vintage Dress
The title, Down the Rabbit Hole, refers to our disorientation when circumstances feel out of control. The fragmented dress parts capture how self-worth can shift when it is tied up with body image. This obsession with personal and media expectations sometimes results in self-harm, represented by the hectic red elements. Down the Rabbit Hole also features remnants of dolls dresses. They symbolize the ways in which bodily preoccupations can be inherited from parent to child.
A body type that is popular in one era can be out of favor in the next. Equinox illustrates the peace of mind that is enjoyed with the rejection of trends and styles.
The art is symmetrical and the vintage dress is intact. Natural elements—sea, moon, and clouds—reinforce the serenity that can be had when embracing a positive body image. The cool colors of Equinox contribute to the impression of calm.
Megan Tomasi
Untitled
Photography
[Untitled] is a photographic process that explores the male body as a pure form of beauty.
Through interviews with the men I photograph, I seek to address the insecurities of their physical selves brought about by toxic masculinity and what they have been told they should look like as a man.
The belief motivating my work is that every individual is beautiful, regardless of their relationship to their body, their body type, or what standards may have been imprinted on them by society. My hope is that men will see this project and realize that the struggle to accept their body is universally felt, by men who look every type of way.
A shared insecurity, when finally expressed, breeds solidarity.
Tiffany Carmouche
Ethereal Woman, Here I Am and Masquerade
Watercolor and Acrylic
Fine Arts Sculptor, Best Selling Author, and Motivational Speaker, Tiffany Carmouché uses her artwork, retreats, her novels, and programs to inspire people worldwide to emerge from their brokenness, to celebrate life, and embrace the world’s serenity.
Art can be a radical form of healing for ourselves, our community, and for social change. Her art, words, service, and passion have touched and inspired people globally. She uses the arts to spread awareness on issues that often go overlooked. With the signature message of human dignity and healing, art is her legacy of hope.
Benjamin Jancewicz
Vanessa Geffrard
Vector on Canvas
Vanessa Geffrard is a life-affirming sex educator residing in West Baltimore. She is the founder of VagEsteem, a workshop series and podcast that encourages good and healthy sex through courageous conversations about love, sex, relationships, and everything in between. She also trains and educates adults, parents, and community groups around sexual health topics such as consent and boundaries, sexually transmitted infection prevention, contraceptive methods, teen pregnancy and abortion stigma, healthy relationships, and LGBTQ inclusion.
Darby Howie
Self Reflection
Oil Paint On Canvas
Self Reflection is a self-portrait created as a personal study. Spending hours getting to know and reproducing your own face is a very different experience than looking in a mirror. For me, I can't look in a mirror or take a picture of myself without wanting to change. Painting forced me to get to know the curves, colors, and unique features that make me me. It’s a beautiful experience to turn off your judgment and see yourself for who you are. I wish I could make everyone feel that way.
Martina Maya-Callen
Vibrancy and Empower
Watercolor and Sharpie
I am vibrant. I am powerful. As the founder of Love Your Vessel and a social practice artist, I am dedicated to utilizing the arts to spread my message of body acceptance, empowerment, and self-love. This watercolor is part of my own journey of self-love and self-expression. As an eating disorder warrior, I went through a watercolor series reflecting on various colors to celebrate my body and to recognize my own self-worth.
Harley Rozier
September
Digital Illustration
This self-portrait is a representation of how I perceive my reflection. As I learn to no longer be controlled by the many traumas of life, I find it extremely important to see my beauty and my pain. One can not have darkness without the knowledge of light.
Jessica Borchert
Express Yourself, Body Love, Above It All and Grief of Anoxeria
Acrylic On Canvas and Polform Clay On Acrylic
Each person comes into an exhibition with a different story, and in that original connection between the viewer and my art, I hope for people to find a sense of discovery in themselves. As the viewer engages in my work, I aim to inspire a sense of body empowerment. I explore imagery and the psychology of colors in hopes of evoking emotions from the viewer. By slightly or fully abstracting an image, I invite the inter the viewer to rethink what they are seeing
Abdul Adaranijo
At Last, Caged Vessel and Me, Myself and EYE
Mixed Media On Canvas and Acrylic On Canvas
Sometimes being in a vessel feels like a trance,
I regain consciousness, unwillingly
shaken at my core
only to realize that the only way to remain in the present
is by collecting the shards of emotions scattered all over
-and making them whole again
These pieces are a recollection of the emotions and experiences of being in a vessel, a body. It is a story of a painful past and a blissful future worth looking forward to.
Kris Diggs
Let Your Hair Down and Peace
Acrylic On Canvas
The first piece represents letting go of stress, fear, problems, and doubts. Tossing your worries to the side and enjoying the moment
The second piece embraces one’s body and the peace that comes with yoga. Having confidence in self and being bold enough to not be afraid to show it.
Cary Michael
S.E.L.F (Soley Engage Lifelong Fufillment
Canvas Print
I am a vibrant acrylic painting that captures the beauty of life forms in an erotic, intense, seductive, yet intimate fashion. I am
monochromatic, multicolored or a merger between the two hues. I am a 2-dimensional canvas expanded into a 3-dimensional, transformative environment. I am the ethos of past generations or the essence of contemporary society. I am a tangible masterpiece
that breaks the interpretation of what society considers “traditional art”. I am Colorful, Collaborative, Cultural and Classic...I am #CaryMichael
SImone Banks-Mackey
Our Bodies
Film Photography
A celebration of our natural beauty paired with the beauty of nature. So often the media pushes us to compare ourselves to one another, so I stopped watching so much TV, went outside, and took a deep breath. As I pour time into connecting with the earth, I realize its beauty is vast, limitless, and ever-changing. If there was anything I wanted to compare beauty to, it would be the beauty I am gifted to experience every day. Using a darkroom, the artist was able to creatively merge film of natural elements with film from subjects in their natural form.