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When Mollie Wetherall ’16 was in her sophomore and junior years at Carleton, she found herself frustrated and angry with media portrayals of bodies, and wanted something that would destigmatize nudity and promote a healthy relationship between people and their bodies. As a result, last year, she and her friends founded Skin Deep: “a body positive campus nude magazine that publishes photographs by and of Carleton students,” according to its mission statement.
“I’d like to think it’s cool to be unapologetically naked. That’s a radical thought in itself,” says Wetherall.
The first magazine, which came out last spring, was the result of a long process of working with CSA to get funding. According to Wetherall, the editors originally planned and laid-out the first issue to be distributed over the winter, but had to go through extra legal hoops in order to gain CSA approval. The current plan is to distribute the second issue over winter term.
In the upcoming issue, photo projects range from explorations of body art and scars to photos of bodies interacting with musical instruments. One photographer had people stand in front of a projector that which transmitted natural landscapes onto the body. Like last year, there will also be more informal “DIY” submissions.
“Some photography engages with the harsher elements of your relationship with your body, and some photos are more celebratory,” Wetherall said. “I think it’s generally a positive response of having an opportunity to claim your body and be in more control of your image than you usually are.”
Throughout the process, Wetherall’s emotional attachment to the project has grown. She especially hopes that through body-positive work like Skin Deep, younger people, such as her sister, can more easily cultivate positive relationships with their bodies than in her personal experience. “I’ve realized I have a very deep emotional investment in what happens with the project; if its servicing the public and actually pushing forward a form of body positivity that’s genuine, that’s consensual, that speaks to everyone regardless if whether or not you choose to engage with photography,” Wetherall said. “And that it practices an intersectional politic that we don’t see in mainstream body positive movements.”