Kayan people (Myanmar)

Many people refer to the Kayan women as the 'Giraffe women' this is due to them wearing brass rings around their neck giving the view that the neck is lengthened. Girls of the tribe are pushed to start wearing the rings from the age of five as they are said to resemble a dragon and so protect the girls from slavery and sexual objectification. To gain a deeper understanding of the oddity 'Giraffe girl', which I am planning to create, I want to look into the cultural side of the body image and different reactions towards it. Although what I am trying to create is a birthborn disfunction not a modification like the kayan people, the initial reaction should be exactly the same. Society only assume what they physically see, without questioning they will not be able to tell the difference between a disfuntion and a modification especially in the modern society that we live in where alternate ways of modifying your body is on the rise.

When I look at images of the Kayan Women I do feel discomfort, this is because of the shockability of seeing something almost surreal but knowing this is actually someone body. Its hard to explain how I feel emotionally towards this image and if I feel sadness or horror towards the kayan women, this due to them appearing happy and proud in photographs. This will be the difference between my image and images of the kayan women as although I intend on ripping away the emotion of my viewer I want my model to look objectified (whether my audience is oblivious to it or not) and not culturally proud like the kayan women do in their portraits. This is the only visual and emotional difference in the reaction to modification and distinction.

One aspect of the images of the Kayan woman portraits that I will defiantly take in mind when creating my Giraffe Girl image is how in each images the photographers have used objectification strategies to lengthen and extremify the women's necks. This has been done through using different angles and positions than what a photographer would use for a generic portrait of a person. This therefore will help me create more of an outsider appeal to my final photograph.

Photo taken by Steve evans