Human body canvas empowers students

Break out the body glitter and skin paint because this Friday, March 8, will be the Center for Gender Equity’s (CGE) Human Body Canvas event. The event’s main purpose is to promote body positivity. This year’s theme is 90’s retro and the expectation is for a lot of bold, bright colors.

Event organizer Kaira Bird said that the event gives, “A creative and unique way that allows people to be involved both on stage and behind the scenes making students feel affirmed in their bodies.”

Bird also spoke about the difficulty a lot of the models face just to be on stage.

“Most all canvases who choose to participate have complicated relationships with their bodies and make the very brave decision to be nude in front of a student audience,” Bird said.

A brave decision indeed, as all of the canvases are painted by hand while completely nude. This can create a very interesting experience between the artists and canvases. Many conversations happen before the show amongst those participating about what brought them there as well as the many trials their bodies have carried them through.

Bird, who works for the CGE, says that a big part of the group’s presence at the event is for the discussion after the event and for the students who came to the show. This will give the audience a chance to join in the conversation and become a part of the Human Body Canvas themselves.

This is the first year that the event will be formatted this way. All participants will be given a chance to make a statement about their interest and motivations around this event.

After the event begins, audience members will be given a chance to walk around and interact with the canvases and the artists about the works. There will also be helpers there who will help in answering difficult questions.

If students are interested in becoming an artist, canvas or helper they can email Bird at kaira.bird@pacificu.edu. Similarly, those interested in supporting the event, but cannot be there in person, are encouraged to share the Facebook page. Bird also emphasized that the biggest and most important way to support the event is to be “affirming of the bodies around you.”