‘Fleshies’ - A call to action to end body shame

May 22, 2019

‘Fleshies’ - A call to action to end body shame

Fleshies, a call to action to end body shaming. Photo: Stuff Events

A new and engaging take on the celebration of the body will be arriving at The Basement Theatre in mid-June.

Fifteen people from the community will share their journey of body acceptance and self-love in the 60-minute show running from June 18 to June 29.

Fleshies co-producer Alice Kirker said the inspiration for the show came from wanting to start telling more of her own stories.

“The one I was most familiar with was that of living in a fat body, and so I started getting together a team to make a show about fatness and what the fat experience is like.

“The show morphed into Fleshies as a way of being able to engage lots of different bodies and their different experiences. We really wanted to create a community that could share and be open with one another about their various experiences,” said Ms Kirker.

It showcases a celebration of the relationship with their bodies, where people are not simply defined by what they look like.

“We want to help our audiences to understand that there is more than just one type of acceptable body, and to encourage them in their own journeys of self-acceptance and appreciation,” Ms Kirker said.

“Due to the lack of body types represented in our daily media, this provides people who have never fitted into the one-set model of society with the opportunity and platform to be allowed to take up space freely and share their stories.

“The simple act of opening up and sharing our biggest insecurities with one-another can be a real tool to make people come together, support one another and to begin to accept one-another more and more.

“Everyone is worthy of love and self-love, and Fleshies strives to encourage audiences to love themselves regardless of how they look or how they feel their bodies might be failing them.” Ms Kirker said.

Fleshies is a fully crowd-funded event for all ages, with just 14 days left until donations close and around 40 per cent of the funds raised.

The creators have crowdfunded and performed several shows before in the past.

Fleshies is a ‘live-performance art-piece’ showcasing the lives of a diverse range of people from different backgrounds of life.

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