For Vivienne McMaster, the camera wasn’t always her best friend—every time she saw her photo, her inner critic would repeat the stories people had her believe as a teenager. It wasn’t until she made the choice of using the camera to heal the negative body image and self-esteem that she came to view herself, through a lens of love. And this is why CreativeMornings/Vancouver invited her to speak on July’s theme of Love.
As a young woman, she was bombarded with misconceptions as to what beauty was, believing the messages around her about who or what she should be. It wasn’t until she purchased a cell phone when she reached a point where she could choose self-critique or self-compassion. She wisely chose self-compassion and started listening through the camera, capturing what beauty meant to her. Once Vivienne started inviting parts of herself into the photos, it allowed her to see the beauty in herself through the lens, one that didn’t fit society’s stereotype.
As the narrator of our own life, sometimes there’s a story that we feel needs to be told through our eyes and lens. It doesn’t have anything to do with narcissism; it’s one where it includes a part of who we are (i.e. gender, race, culture) that we may not see in the media today. For Vivienne, she came to a place of neutrality through her selfies - it wasn’t about vanity; it was about self-love. Today, Vivienne helps others in achieving the same self-love through her courses online called: Be Your Own Beloved.
Watch her entire CreativeMornings/Vancouver talk below:
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ9n9XOtts4[/embed]
A free monthly breakfast lecture series, CreativeMornings/Vancouver is for the creative mind or the mind looking to inspire creativity. Join us for our next speaker, Shauna Johannesen, on the theme of Weird on August 5th - click here to sign up for the waiting list.
