Proposal: Facing Flaws

Leslie Condon, Elizabeth Menges & Bevan Weissman

Describe your project.
We will create a series of detailed rubber casts of body parts that provoke body image insecurities. We will interview volunteers about the relationships they have with specific areas of their bodies before and after making casts of those areas. To ensure a diverse pool of participants, we will reach out to friends and acquaintances and post public calls. The casts will be anonymously displayed in a public space. Written excerpts from interviews will accompany the casts.

How will you use the grant to make your idea happen?
Grant money will be used to buy materials: burlap, plaster, Smooth-on silicone.

Why and to whom is your project important?
This project will benefit participants and the broader community by demystifying shared physical insecurities and promoting a broader range of what is acceptable to be seen or embraced. Through the process of making the casts, participants can gain a great sense of self-awareness, self-esteem, and improved body image. After the exhibition, the casts will be returned to the individuals to honor their participation and to bring the project full circle. We will organize panel discussions at the exhibition venues with art therapists and psychologists to encourage an open, healthy dialogue about the art that reaches beyond the immediate participants. Our long term goal is to structure the project as a traveling exhibition. So far we have two confirmed spaces: Gallery 263 in Cambridge and the Somerville Public Library.

If you win, what is the expected status of your project by the time the next Feast Mass rolls around in 3–4 months?
We expect to have made a minimum of 12 casts and have secured exhibition dates and venues.