Body image in art (FIN)

Body image in Art: Finland

Introduction

As part of the project YEW, our students familiarized themselves with different art periods and studied the body image in the works of these periods in December and January. The art periods were chosen based on the students’ interests and they were also based on the art periods that are dealt with as part of the Finnish arts curriculum in upper secondary school.

The students chose a period that they were interested in and then studied the period in pairs. They chose two works of art and studied the body image that was conveyed through these paintings or sculptures. They also studied differences between male and female representations when it was possible.

The students created PowerPoint-presentations as part of their English lessons and they presented these works to each other. The presentations concentrated more on the students own interpretations of the body images that the paintings and sculptures conveyed, but they also used internet and book sources to support their interpretations. However, it should be kept in mind that the main emphasis of this exercise was to let the students know that the ideals for a beautiful body have changed through the centuries and that there are many kinds of beautiful bodies.  

In addition, our first year students focused on the Finnish art and body image in it as part of their art course. You can also find a summary of the main ideas they studied and some collages and self-portraits that they created in their art course.