Category: Tutorials

This week, during tutorial, I reviewed the work I’ve done so far. What else I could continue to do and get a greater outreach, one thing that my tutor recommended is that maybe I could start with getting a different audience to interact with my work in one of the interventions I had done in Medellin at a mall and try to see if I could do it digitally which I immediately got on and started to get people to look at and sent out after having done my intervention through paddle the last time and realizing that I had gotten some good responses and people were willing to participate I decided to use the same one, however I am still waiting to get more results since I am having more people circulating with it. One suggestion that my auto did which I was not a very big fan of but I am starting to consider it is doing podcasts and having experts participate and share their expertise about the subject this is still something I am having a very hard time of looking at and I am not sure this is something I want to do because I might be scard or it might be a very big step and I also feel as if I might not have enough time to accomplish this however I want to see where it could take me so I might try to plan a first one and see how that goes and this might even be something that I do after I finish my masters, I defenelty want to make sure that if I am doing this that it is something different and not the same iteration to what other people are doing maybe I would prefer to do other sorts of collaborations nd this is what I am looking to do with the people that I am seeing the results on the most resent padlet that I sent out because I included a question which the response I am going to be using for an artifact I am working on and then hopefully I might be able to get more reactions from it and see how people see this issue represented in art pieces. I feel like I’ve had very productive tutorials because I really appreciate being pushed and questioned. After all, I feel this is how I grow, and I will be able to make my project even better than it is now, which is important to me. I will keep trying to live up to the expectations and push as hard as I can on this project, even with less time. 

In my tutorial this week I got a lot of insightful information that will help me move forward in my project since I had been feeling very stuck in the last couple of weeks and did not know what I was going to do moving forward. One of the first things she mentioned is that she would always go back to the research question in order to understand what it was I wanted to do and accomplish as a whole. I need to actually start completing more work on the interventions even if they are small ones because this is how I am going o make new knowledge.

I am a little behind on my journal entries, which is why I’m writing this, but it is not for information; I’m writing to get back on track with the project. I came prepared for the tutorial, and it is important to have some feedback to note and see what I considered, especially. How am I going to make it different from what other people have already been doing, and how can I actually get to something innovative? This is a very hard question, and I am still trying to figure it out; however, I’ve worked further with designers and spoken to multiple people who think a creative outlet could be a good idea, or something like setting standard sizing. However, I really need to finalize this since my investigation time is only until December, and that is now, even if we do not realize it. 

Something else I heard from Richard while completing my presentation was that negative feedback is still valuable. It is still something that I need to look at, such as the fact that I have gotten backlash from my family and have had people tell me they don’t understand what I am doing and what the point is, as well as having people not show up to set meetings, but what this shows me, and the way I need to start looking at it, is the fact that it is something important. It is certainly making people uncomfortable, which is important to realize. One of the main pieces of feedback I got was that I could do something like rage bait to get more people to interact with my project and what I am doing. 

I also need to look further into how to proceed with people on this topic because I know I need to make sure I am doing this well. I have been respectful and completely understand when people don’t want to participate, but I have had moments where I have reached a breaking point. 

I could try to do a podcast with some people; however, this is hard because if I can hardly get people to speak to me, how am I going to get people to podcast? When it is unanimous, it is easier, but now that I am starting to look at it differently, things are changing. It is becoming harder to get people to want to participate even though they think it is a very interesting project and a subject that should be looked at more. I need to use this negativity and resistance to my advantage because it’s a way of looking at it. 

I have tried contacting different designers, as one of her suggestions was, however, it has been hard to get designers to spare time for me as well. Still, I found one, and I am currently working with her. I’ll have a definitive artifact in two weeks, which is the time frame she gave me since she also has her actual job. 

I could intervene on sizing, as well as one about food and the culture around it. 

Also, I could be making some of these blogs that I have written go towards the public as a part of an intervention; however, I need to be very careful with this since I have permission from my participants to post it on a blog my teachers, tutors, and peers can see but not the general public, so I would need to find a way that is ethical to do this or make the ones where I did not speak to specific people open to the public. 

Introduction:

Since the beginning of my research, I have had a clear goal set, which is to focus on Body image and Eating disorders, even though I realize that they can be very different and, in a lot of cases, cannot be combined. However, through my work and interventions, I decided to focus more on where the pressure of beauty and body standards comes from and the effects it might have on our society. 

Question:

How can I collaborate with creatives and people who have lived body image struggles to create an artifact or event that raises awareness of body image pressure? 

Research Methodology:

This has been a hard part of the project. My job is to review and analyze it to the best of my ability and criteria based on what I have been learning, but creating my own research and interventions has definitely been a challenge. However, I have tried creating artifacts and seeing people’s reactions, or the conversations that start after I show them these artifacts. I have also been doing a lot of research, conducting direct interviews, and having conversations with psychologists who speak to this work, as well as nutritionists and people who are still on their own journey. One of the main things I have been hearing is that people are often treated the same way, even when they want to be treated as individuals. 

Research:

One of the main points of my research has been fat phobia and racism, Sabrina Springs, whom I will be meeting up with on August 31st. She has been a main point in my research, “Fearing the black body”, which speaks about the way that body superiority or the preference for thin bodies comes from Europeans trying to act superior to find a reason why Black people were less than and finding irrational ways to prove this (Springs, 2019). I have also been doing a lot of research on different organizations that have been speaking about something similar, specifically in Colombia. I found one that I found very interesting called “El Cuerpo que Somos”; they started their work in 2016 and have used several formats, including a short blog and, later, podcasts over the past couple of years, which have created a lot of traction (El Cuerpo que somos, 2026). Through my research, I also realized there are many different stereotypes about the type of body you should have, not only because of the city you live in but also because of your socioeconomic background and your family’s beliefs around body image (Pommper, 2004). 

Interventions:

For me, having done the intervention has been very hard because I am dealing with a very sensitive subject matter. If I spoke to someone in interviews, filmed them, or took notes, I asked for their consent many times because I never want anything to be misconstrued, and they really appreciated that. However when I started to think about my interventions the first thought that came to my mind was creating some social media platform however this was something that I have absolutely hated the idea of because to gain traction specifically with people from Colombia I would need to post it on my own social media pages and this opens me up to a lot of criticism. (Instagram) Secondly, in the previous tutorial, I was given the idea of creating a workshop or roundtable to discuss different subjects with focus groups, but this didn’t work out, which led me to create a Padlet which gave me some great insight (Padlet). However, after I realized this format wasn’t going to work, I had to go out into the streets because I wasn’t going to keep waiting for something to happen. If I didn’t start producing something or getting different reactions, I might not be able to finish this investigation on time, and honestly, that was not an option. So I created two different artifacts: one was a set of questions that I printed on periwinkle paper, since this is the color that represents ED awareness, and I went to a shopping center where I asked 30 different women to participate; 304 agreed, and 264 did not. (Blog for this intervention)

The second artifact I used explored assumptions people in Medellin might have about fashion design, where they had to tell me or signal which of the forms below they felt fashion designers should use when creating a new garment. 

I tried to include a lot of different body types, and I asked around 21 women; they all had different opinions and were open to participating. This led me to see how many different assumptions people have about body image and how important it is to destigmatize it. (Blog) Both of these last interventions were definitely hard because it took me putting myself out there and being vulnerable. I knew that if I ran into people I know, I would be severely judged; however, it is an important exercise. When I was speaking with my family about it, they had a very good reaction when it came to my father and grandfather because they told me this is an exercise that a lot of entrepreneurs make their children do not to fear rejection, but it was definitely a struggle mentally. 

Audience:

Right now my audience is very broad. I started out thinking my audience would be people who are vocal on social media about body image. EDs, however, this is not precisely the case because I have also chosen creatives specifically in Colombia, as well as random people I do not know, and medical professionals who do this for a living, and what I have heard is that there needs to be more education.

Conclusion: 

While doing this part of my research, it has been a journey, and there have been some really hard and frustrating moments; however, I think that there has been a lot of growth, specifically in myself, because I had to start putting myself out there and being more okay with rejection. In the next steps, I want to take the interventions that I have done and take them a step further or make them deeper, for example, designing an actual garment in the different body silhouettes. When I spoke with Diana, she suggested I do it life-sized, and it might be hard to make it life-sized. Still, I will definitely try to make it larger and have people interact with it directly; however, there is still a lot more space for me to grow and move forward in this project (Blog).

Bibliography

Blog: El Cuerpo Que Somos · el cuerpo que Somos (no date) El Cuerpo Que Somos. Available at: https://elcuerpoquesomos.com/blog/ (Accessed: 27 August 2026). 

Pompper, D. and Koenig, J. (2004) ‘Cross-cultural-generational perceptions of ideal body image: Hispanic Women and Magazine Standards’, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81(1), pp. 89–107. doi:10.1177/107769900408100107. 

Strings, S. (2019) Fearing the black body: The racial origins of fat phobia. New York: New York University Press. 

Question: How can I collaborate with creatives and people who have lived body image struggles to create an artifact or event that raises awareness of body image pressure?

What does it mean: This study aims to create a collaboration between creatives and people with lived body image struggles to produce an artifact, an event, or a mix of both that raises awareness of the roots of body image struggles and the pressures that drive them. 

Focus on the investigation: The investigation focuses on raising awareness of often-overlooked body image struggles and understanding their history. What kind of culture are we creating in different societies that leads more people to suffer from these struggles? Especially considering the effects of social media growth and the post-pandemic period. 

What you are investigating: I am investigating the lack of education around body image struggles and where they come from, as well as how different times have shaped beauty ideals and created pressure to change. I am investigating how to get creatives and people who have struggled with body image to work together. 

Why are you investigating it: I am investigating it because it started as just eating disorders, and it started because I myself had gone through a hard journey. Still, the further I investigated, the fact is that Anorexia is the deadliest mental illness. However, I am really investigating the different pressures that lead to it and how we can raise awareness to catch it sooner and know how to act. Much of this pressure comes from family and social circles because people sometimes don’t realize the effect their words have on others. (For example, the new trend of being skinny is the outfit) Why are people posting this? I want to see how I might help disrupt this culture.

What aspect of the subject I am focused on: I am more focused on the cultural aspect and why there is so much pressure around your body, as well as the body diversity that is often disrespected in the world today. I am also focused on collaborating with different artists and fashion brands in Colombia to learn from them and further develop collaboration. 

gap, issue, or problem my project is responding to:

• Lack of sizing inclusivity when it comes to clothing in Colombian stores and brands (this was further suggested when I went to the mall and spoke to several people)
• Inherited standards lack education towards older generations to make sure that they are doing their best not to traumatize younger generations who can later on develop problems with their self-esteem and body image. (This is something that I saw as mixed because some people who I spoke to in my first intervention had a very healthy relationship with their bodies and their parents helped with that however when I was speaking to other people specifically in one on one interviews as well as with my second intervention there was a lot of talk about how parents are always criticising and want you to fit in so you don’t suffer this is not something they are doing in a bad way but because of lack of education on how to look at this different situations)
• Eating Disorders and Body image Struggles sometimes being mixed: I think I might have been trying to look at both of them as a whole but when I was doing my research specifically in the padlet some people were very specific about having to distinguish both of them, however when I am looking at it further I want to be looking at what causes the pressures in the first place that lead to seeing the body in a derogatory way. 
• Lack of information on what to look out for: a lot of times, specifically from what I have heard in my conversations, people think about fixing the problem when it has already gotten to an extreme; for example, parents have a hard time accepting that their child has a problem, so they don’t get help right away. They wait until there is a very deep deterioration in their health before looking for help. Also, if people don’t look sick, and what I mean by this is extreme thinness, then they are not considered sick; for example, binge eating disorder is considered a lack of control. Bulimia is looked at as just wanting instant gratification. (There are a lot of stereotypes surrounding eating disorders in Colombia). 
• It is a researched subject in Latin America; however, it is very rarely talked about around a dinner table, and people rarely share their experiences. I have only been able to find around 3 people in Colombia who have campaigned around this and are willing to speak about it. This is rarely expressed through fashion and art, though there is some representation in the media. 
• Exclusion in Fashion: A lot of fashion brands are focused on who they are selling to, and this is their job, but at times, because of their barriers of entry, they do not allow or have not made the work to make sure that bigger people have the opportunity to participate in their brand because they don’t have the sizing available to them. (For example one of the responses I got from my last intervention was that women of larger bodies want to be able to be included and wear things that are elegant and in trends but a lot of times they don’t have that opportunity) – My hypothesis around this is the fact that maybe it is assumption the brand makes itself because of the pretences we have about body image in Latin America for example we create a narrative in their own brain and I have heard it a lot from several people here in Colombia that larger people should not be wearing certain clothes until they feel fully comfortable in their own body or lose weight so this might be why some people choose not to have more inclusive sizing in their brands because maybe they believe that they won’t sell and people will not buy them however this might be an assumption I am creating from what I have heard, for example a woman who has a very recognized fashion blog in Colombia called Laura Echeveri and her blog is fashion lesson talks about when she had a brand and how she had to change the sizing because people would not buy an extra large, she also speaks about how sometimes we are married to a size and we give so much impotence to out clothing size instead of buying because of how we feel we buy it because of the number. 
• The collaboration between these two subjects is a gap in itself, there are very few artists that address this subject themselves from their own work or own lived experiences with eating disorders but there are even less that are asked to participate in such collaboration with the people with their own experiences specifically and also when it comes to fashion, fashion is such an integral part of our world because no matter what you do you have to get dressed everyday. Hence, it is important to look at the relationship between them, and if there are very few conversations about this with people who struggle with body image, how will we know how to help and how we can help make this relationship better? (There are some small brands that, for example, do not include the size of the clothing in the tags.) This is something interesting to look more into. (People are hired to be ghostwriters; why can there not be some ghost artists? Or designer?)
• This could also be something I do in a sort of event fundraiser because one of the people I had a conversation with talked to me about how there could be a dance festival because this person was a dancer and has the funds go into research or foundations that focus on research because there are still very few centers and resources, and this is also something that could be an option.

Interventions and testing:

INTERVENTION 1: Instagram, in all honesty, this has been the bane of my existence because in Colombia or Latin America, when someone is doing something different and controversial, it is very common to receive a lot of criticism and comments around it which has honestly created a lot of fear for me because of my own issues with self acceptance but I am still trying to go through this. However, I need to be more consistent with the posting. I have had times when I have had a lot of problems posting on my personal account, where I have more followers and more people, but when I posted my first post on my personal account. There were a lot of people who asked me what it was and told me it was weird in their comments towards the story which really made me feel self conscious about posting because since I am aware I live in a place where no one talks about what is not perfect it is hard to accomplish anything which leads to other struggles more with myself because why do I care so much what other think this is a challenge I am going to have to get over at some point.  

INTERVENTION 2: Round Table parents. When I was first thinking of interventions I could make, I decided that I would start with a group I was comfortable with, which were some family members as well as some close family friends. I decided to make it a round-table experience and see how different people reacted to 3 questions I asked. The questions I asked were: (as a parent to girls, how do you feel your own relationship with your bodies affects them, and how do you feel you could improve this?, What tools have you used or started using to help your daughters build a good relationship with their bodies? What do you think is the biggest problem that girls have when it comes to their relationship with their bodies? With your experience, not just your daughter, how do you see it around you?) Most participants took it well and thought it was an important point to make; however, the older participants, or what others would call the aunties, were clearly more reluctant. From their answers, they didn’t give much detail, which I honestly expected. Still, an older man participated. He did take it very seriously and afterward had a conversation with me and allowed me to put it in my notes that one of the main issues was the fame of plastic surgery and how doctors are making a fortune out of making young girls insecure and trying to make them accomplish a body type that is not the same.

INTERVENTION 3: Attempted round table meetings/ Padlet. After seeing that I had some success on that specific intervention with the round table and that I got a lot of participants, I could try to find other focus groups, for example, people who had actively posted online about the subject. I could create a focus group or round table with them; however, when I started to try to get them together, some did not feel comfortable and told me I could send them some questions. They could answer, so it was a good plan; however, it might be interesting if they fed off each other. Some people told me they were going to make it to circles and then canceled at the last minute or never showed up. So it ended up being one-on-one, which doesn’t make it an intervention. Still, I learned a lot of valuable information, but it was frustrating because I had a plan and it changed. Still, I got a lot of valuable answers in the Padlet, as well as through the one-on-one interview questions I prepared. However, I learned a lot, especially about trying something new, the different parts of the process, and how sometimes situations will be frustrating. 

INTERVENTION 4: Questions in the note cards at malls. This intervention was interesting to me because it had people interact with a material, starting with the color itself. I wanted the note cards to be periwinkle because that is the color used for ED awareness. Still, in reality, no one actually asked about this; they just answered the question, and at times they were confused and didn’t know what to answer. I had to explain to them that it was how they felt; they did not have to write an entire paragraph to answer, and if they felt that the question did not apply to them at all, they could say that as well because that would show me that I was not asking the right questions or maybe that I was asking them from my own assumptions. This was interesting because, of the 30 people I asked to participate, 26 said yes. The others were closed off to participating, which is also valid. Still, it made me challenge myself because at the beginning I was nervous I would run into people I know or get other people’s reactions. Still, it was important because that was part of the process, and I can learn from it because people were actually very kind in this work. 

INTERVENTION 5: Artifact of different silhouettes fashion designers use and which they would think is the most appropriate and the reasoning behind it. This was really interesting to me because I felt people were very receptive, even if some of them did not answer the why they thought it should be used for the designers; some of them did, and this was very interesting to look at because it shows that people are actually interested in participating in some field research like this, even if it is unanimous. I learned a lot because many conversations started among the participants, which was a byproduct. After all, since I did this work in a shopping mall, there were times when groups of people did it at the same time and started discussing. (One other observation I can add to this is from my own experience from designing because when I was younger I used to do illustrations on regular bodies or bodies that actually looked real and when I was applying to college for art I started to work with different tutors and they would tell me that they preferred it when i would do the illustrations on thinner bodies and that it could help me make them more professional and this is something I have been thinking about during this entire process because it makes me think about how even I at the beginning would consider that fed into this stereotypes even for myself). Also, there were a lot of people who told me that they really wanted bigger women to be more represented and that it was important to see it from this perspective because if we are saying that it is easier to design for someone slimmer, then we inherently are saying that it is easier to dress someone thinner. In these specific interventions, I spoke to around 20 people, and no one said they were not interested. They all participated, which I found interesting because in other interventions I had heard more reservations about participation, for example in the focus groups. 

What did your research tell you?

• My research showed me that people facing different struggles, as well as healthcare professionals in this field, feel it is important to discuss this subject and to acknowledge that it shouldn’t be glamorized. 
• While writing some of the information above, I thought about how society and culture create this problem. On the other hand, we sometimes see it as a problem of the person suffering through it, which is completely incorrect. Still, when I was speaking with a Nutritionist from Denmark, she told me that, at times, from the stereotypes we have created, people think that all people suffering through eating disorders are the same. They should all be getting the same treatment; however, this is not the case because people who are suffering through these disorders are living them in different ways, which is also very important to look at specifically when I am looking at the perspective of education. This distinction is important to make extremely clear. 
• One thing I noticed in my research is that a lot is talked about on both ends of the spectrum because there is so much information out there. Still, there is a lot of information about how to lose weight and diets that you should be doing if you want to look a certain way; a perfect example can be the influencer (Liv Schmidt, who is an influencer who speaks of extreme thinness and how to sustain it). Several accounts speak about the culture of body positivity and inclusion of all bodies. For example, there are accounts on social media such as (Fat Art History, Baby Panpan, Nalgona Pride, Historical Fat People, etc.)
• When I was out talking to people in the malls, many of them told me this is an important topic to discuss because they still see it as a problem. Even though there has been growth, stores still didn’t offer a wide range of sizes, especially when they were exclusively Colombian brands. They were very responsive; however, one thing that really shocked me was that after they participated, they asked me if they chose the right one, when that wasn’t the point, and it is important to understand that in some cases there is no right or wrong answer. 
• I learned that most people view their relationship with their body through the lens of how their parents saw themselves and how they were spoken to when they were younger, because many received criticism that they had to lose weight. 
• I have also spoken to several athletes. They speak about how there was a lot of pressure that came from their coaches and the people they looked up to which is very concerning because the people who are older and who are supposed to be taking care of you are putting pressure on you and telling you you will be a good athlete when you reach a specific body instead on focusing on technique and being strong but putting an emphasis on the size in a sort of thinness. 
• Also, from several conversations I had with psychologists and researchers, one subject kept coming up. It was the one Sabrina Springs speaks about: the book and investigation about “fearing the black body.” When I talked to different people, they all talked about the Eurocentric form of body image; however, when I look at this, one thing keeps coming back. It’s that there are far more specialized treatment centers in Europe than in Latin America. Hence, it feels as if we adopted the stigma, and after adopting it and seeing the effect it has had on different groups of people, there is little we have done about it. 

What insight did you take from it?

• One specific insight I found was the fact that even in environments such as malls there was a lot of emphasis on the fact that a lot of people thought that having a slimmer model would give the designers an easier shot at doing more designs in a day and this was an assumption I saw as well as them thinking that there would be less prejudice and more body inclusion if the designer or sketches were done on bodies that could not even exist which is an interesting point to look at because what make it so much harder why do people think this is a reality. 
• I also took on the insight that when people are doing this kind of work anonymously there are a lot more people who are receptive and are open to it because it was a question I got asked a lot however when people see it is me doing it and I talk about it people get very confused and do not understand why it is that I am doing this which is also a struggle because there are a lot of people questioning my reasoning behind it and some of my family is even ashamed and sais that it is something that should not be talked about in different spaces for example we were at a restaurant and I was talking about what I had done that day with my family the day I took my intervention to the mall to get people to react to it and I heard some laughter by some of my family members and my younger sister was embarrassed and did not want me to continue working on it she said it was embarrassing but honestly it makes me think even more about the stigma we have around the subject and how it is something that should not even be talked about. 
• I learned that people were more willing to participate in this subject than I expected, especially when they were told their names wouldn’t be included. 
• What did you create/do/change as a result?
• One of the first changes was that I started the Instagram Cuerpo undefined, and we went through names and different logos because I started getting outside feedback and decided to take it. They told me the logo was hard to understand, so I made another one. Still, people around me thought that it looked sad, which led to a change, and a publicist who is a family member of mine helped me create a new logo, which she thought would be better; however, I received some criticism or feedback on that one as well, but decided that at some point people were going to have opinions. Still, I had to guide myself and decide what I wanted to do, not base it only on all the feedback, because that is part of the issue. (I think that people are always commenting on your appearance, specifically your family, because there are always people saying how if you changed your makeup, clothing, body, you could look better, but it is up to you to decide what you take and what you don’t).
• Then I did the silhouette artifact which I think that I could really expand upon this because it is important to look at it and how people had different ways of reacting to this artifact I love how one of them actually included a heart and spoke so positively about larger bodies, I also was very impressed by the conversations that the people participating started having which I found very interesting and a lot of them gave opinions on how there is a lot of discrimination and the way that there are only a couple of stores that have so much of a size range. 
• I also created a sort of intervention with the periwinkle note cards, which was a color I chose because of its significance, but I also looked at the questions I was asking, which were (What would you tell a younger you about their body?, When was the last time you felt uncomfortable with your body?, Who taught you what your body should look like?, If there was something you could change about your physical appearance, what would it be?, At what age did you start noticing your own body and everyone around you?) I cut these out and had people write their answers on note cards so they could interact with the papers and the questions. This was a good test, and I did something similar but with a more put-together artifact. 
• I created a Padlet so people could participate and answer questions anonymously, without issues around feeling seen or exposed. 
• The last change may have nothing to do with the project and more to do with myself, because I discovered and started feeling more comfortable being uncomfortable. What I mean is that I was okay with being told no and being turned away. Still, I also started to reach higher the more comfortable I got; for example, there is this group or page which I really admire, which is the account “el cuerpo que somos,” and from seeing them I actually gathered up the courage to contact them even if they were from my environment in Medellin, which at times intimidates me. I was actually able to get a meeting with them on Wednesday, which I really appreciate and am very excited for, but this came from a change in my own perspective, which is a change from doing all of these different interventions, whether I realize it or not. 

How did you test the intervention?

• I tested different groups; I wanted to go to the mall twice. I wanted to change it to soup, which is why I tested one intervention at one mall and the other at another. I decided to change it to soup because I realized that one of the malls was bigger and had a larger population. It also serves as a metro station, which means there are more people there at all times, which is why I decided to do my second intervention there; however, this was through learning. I was grateful I could do my intervention either way. 
• I also had private meetings, which were an attempt to get groups together, but they didn’t work out; however, the people who participated in the one-on-ones agreed to collaborate further down the line if I needed help, which I really appreciated and which could lead to something greater. 
• When people were not willing to participate in meetings or did not have time, I gave them the option to participate in a Padlet, and I honestly got a lot of different responses and was able to further analyze different things going on through this, including how some people view their disorder differently. 

What happened and what did you learn?

• From the entire process, I started to realize it was a lot easier for me, or I had more people participating, when it was one-on-one because I wasn’t constantly worried. I don’t know why I’m shyer and more concerned about being judged by people I actually know, so I learned that about myself. 
• I learned there are a lot more people willing to participate than I was ready for. People actually appreciate what it is I am doing which I learned from call backs getting people together and the reactions I gathered however I also understand that this is a very hard subject to deal with and a lot of people do not feel comfortable being so open which leads to cancellations and changes but this is part of the process as they say in our masters we need to embrace uncertainty so when I have meetings I am always ready for one person to join or everyone or no body so far I have not had everybody who says is going to show up actually make it however it is something I am starting to live with. 
• One of the main things I learned is that when it is anonymous, more people are willing to participate. 

What will you change or test next?

• There are a couple of changes I need to make in my next test: I am starting to reach out to a wider variety of people because so far I have spoken to medical professionals as well as people who are in recovery or recovered. I need to broaden this even more to include creatives and designers. Still, I already have a meeting with one of them tomorrow that I found online; however, I have been reaching out to Colombian brands and hope to create something soon. I also need to do more testing so maybe next time I will actually include a sketch of a dress or a garment in different body sizes and see which one people are more drawn to I also want to start getting more people to participate creatively maybe even with drawing something but this is still something I have to further think about, I also need to work further on my instagram because I have been focusing more on the other interventions but need to look at this one with more detail. I need to keep moving forward no matter the roadblocks because I have had a lot, and there are times when I have felt discouraged, but I have kept going, so I need to keep going with that impulse. I was also given some feedback that maybe I might want to try a podcast without a face or make some of my blog post outward facing I still need to look at this but something very important to me is that I need to continue working with my tutors and especially listening to the blind spots I might have and how I can continue forward for example the idea of contacting Colombian brands was Zuelinka and I need to keep moving forward because I can’t just stay waiting and doing the same things and expecting different results for example if I had just stayed with focus groups instep of going out and trying something different. 

I had my individual tutorial with Zuleika last week, and I had been feeling a little stuck about what I wanted to do. She helped me find ways to unlock this and gave feedback on some of the work I had done so far. One of the main things she told me was that when one is feeling stuck, one should always go back to the research question and look at what you originally wanted to do; however, I explained to her that my research question is still a work in progress, and I was still working on it since, after my tutorial with Diana, she had told me I needed to complete a couple of changes. One of the main things that was discussed was that I really wanted to create an intervention or project in which I was able to express my creative freedom aswell as having people better understand the root cause of eating disorders and body image and one thing that is really important to me is to make sure that the people I am working with feel safe and as if their story is being told looking at all this means I want to create something with some educational support. The idea of the question she gave me was “How can better knowledge or education about the history of eating disorders and body image thin culture help people feel safer in their bodies?” I still need to think it through and make sure it aligns with the stance I want to take, but this will keep changing. One of the main things we discussed is that people with larger bodies are often given opportunities to see themselves in a beautiful way, and this might be something I want to explore. One of the pieces of feedback she gave me for feeling stuck is to make some small interventions to generate new ideas and consider different perspectives, but I need to be careful to keep myself and my participants safe. One of the main points I came out of with this conversation is that I need to discover or make sure I am sure that I know what I want to do and write it out in as much detail as humanly possible in order to get different kinds of approval from the ethics board, one of the small interventions I could do is through social media or even on the street with asking questions. I really thought this tutorial helped me look at things from a different perspective and made me think about different ideas of what I should do in the coming weeks. 

In this tutorial, we presented to our tutor Diana on a Friday instead of a Monday due to a scheduling change. It was an interesting tutorial, and I learned a lot and started applying it further in my work. I was able to see how I need to really get better at creating more visual presentations to whoever we might be presenting to, because I had a lot of text in my presentation, and that is more difficult for people to engage with, and this is relevant not just in the course but in life as a whole. I also realized that even though I have been working on my question and trying to evolve it there is still a lot more work to do and I will continue doing that especially during this time in independent study, I also need to start being much more prepared and bring in new ideas to every tutorial as well as having something to show for the work that I have been doing and not just talking about it as I did in this past tutorial but actually start doing a better job at losing it because it makes it look more organized and as if there are more possibilities all throughout. I also have a lot of different ideas I had not even realized, but now see as potential for my project. 

• One of the first things Diana mentioned that stood out to her about one of my possible questions “How can the art of dressing and fashion help people suffereing through body image struggles feel safe expressing themselves in this form?” even though this cannot be my final question something that stood out was the word security and and the way it could be about the self not just self security but a sense of self, this is not a strong academic question however if I keep working on it I think it will develop into something interesting. 
• Also when it comes to the description of the question it must be done in a more concise way because I gave a lot of information that maybe was not necessary and I should not include the methodology or how I am going to make it happen and also looking at the fact that my description was still very broad but in the last week I have been working on refining it and look at it in a different way. 
• I really have to decide who I am doing this for and who I think needs the awareness, because I am still looking at it from a very broad perspective. I really need to decide, because this will completely change my research and the way I approach this project.
• One thing that was really reinforced in the tutorial is the fact that I need to trust myself and go through the process it is okay to feel unsure and feel fear because I am not aware of what the outcome is going to be however I am learning how to allow myself to make mistakes and grow from this process because it is normal and even though I have a hard time assimilating it it is also a part of the reason why I am doing this course. 

During our tutorial this week, we discussed each of our progress during the week and also realized Diana’s working style, in that we should always bring something to show our tutor group and make some progress, as well as making sure that when we are meeting people, we must leave them with an impression. We first went over Nicole’s project about London and the different directions it could take; however, one thing I took away from this conversation is how people on the outside can destroy the project, which is an important point to look at. Also, the question of why is this important? Because it made me think about my own reasoning behind it and how people on the outside might view the project. Dernise has already experienced different pivots throughout her process, which started one way but has been evolving, and when she shared this, it made me think even more about how this master’s is a process and that everything won’t happen all at once. Regarding the feedback I received on my project, I need to further examine what I am researching and investigating, and the description of my question; I should have this ready by next week. Another thing I took from this specific tutorial is the fact that I have to make sure that I am mentally safe, having suffered through eating disorders myself as well as making sure that I can stay objective in some form. Even though I have a very large support group, I need to make sure that I will not put myself or others at risk.

We had tutorials yesterday and had a meeting with my new tutor Diana Donaldson who I had the pleasure to work with before but I am exited to work with her again. One of the first things we looked at were the way that this is not just research but we are more so doing an investigation which we looked up the definition for, “Find out, explore, examine. We should not know the answer for our question” We need to specifically bring in new knowledge because this is what makes our work an MA and not a BA. A problem that I realized with my question is the fact that it is in a subject that might be oversaturated which means I have to look at the gap that I might be able to find through research and further investigation. I also have some more new code words to look at such as (Body Resilience). I also have to look at more data that is already out there and connect it or see what data I might be able to provide myself through my investigation. Closely look at the materials that are already out there and look for comparative analytics, also really listen to the people I am talking to critically and see what they actually need.

One question or analysis that we made a group that Diana made us think about was, “what do I want people to learn from my research?”

Also as an assignment to better understand what we are doing we are each going to bring in a presentation redefining and looking more closely at our what, why and how also to look for better questions we could be asking. This includes writing a description of the questions and thinking about the question separately.