Quotes From Participants

“I don’t feel painted on. I feel like this is what I should look like all the time.”

“You’re physically changing, you assume an identity, and that identity is liberating.”

“The more you painted on me the more confident I became and the more I wanted to be out in the world.”

“I claimed ownership of my body, I claimed my ownership of these streets, I claimed ownership of play.”

“It was a very gentle experience. The brush stroke felt natural and curvaceous like my belly. I felt somehow that it was a communion with my baby.”

“I felt like a superhero. I felt like I should go and fight crime.”

“I felt like I was in a different time zone practically. It was trance-like. We were in our own universe…”

“There is no sense of time. I don’t know what time it is and I don’t really care.”

“I am really shy. I don’t like getting undressed.”

“This is how I feel on the inside. I’d like to be more nude, feminine, and bold but I censor myself all the time. This space and context gave me permission to be more myself.”

“I allowed myself to objectify myself in a way that complicates my subjectivity. I got to blur the line. I am a subject man painted as an artistic object – as a “weird” un-gendered object.”

“I loved having the people look at you, but the irony is that they are not really looking at you, you are really looking at them.”

“I felt connected the whole time – it was very strong.”

“I don’t know what the purpose of this was. In life everyone is trying to figure out a purpose for everything, but in this particular experience there are no expectations of purpose.”

“During the experience, there was a certain way of holding myself that reflect some of the body image issues I have.”

“The beauty I feel hasn’t been covered, but it has accentuated my beauty. Uncovering another layer of beauty.”

“It was refreshing to be in the nude and not trying to be sexy. Not being perceived as sexy by everyone is part of the liberation; you’re just free. You’re a blank canvas.”

“It feels good to have someone care for you for a short period of time. Someone is attentive to every part of your body. It’s soothing.”

“I wasn’t expecting to be so honest and so vulnerable. The touch of the paintbrush and the paint was cooling and soothing as I was internalizing my own thoughts and emotions.”

“I was very much in my head. I was listening through my back and creating an image in my mind based on touch – I felt it through my back, in front of me and up into my brain. I felt in terms of shape.”

“You become more aware of your body without actually caring what it looks like”

“I felt completely safe. Normally, I always want to modify something on my body. But the paint feels like armor, it feels like it covers me. I don’t know why I felt so safe.”

“The interesting part is that there was no reason to do it”

“It was a less judgmental process, it wasn’t to scrutinize your face. You are just being painted on – not being enhanced with make up.”

“It brought me back to childhood. It reminded me of my mom doing my hair.”

“It was a bonding experience – being painted on together and then wiping it all off together.”

“It was nice to give someone else control. I’m strong and free, but giving someone else control and to try to relax was a big step for me. It is meditative to hand over power. It provided a mental and emotional space to be able to take yourself in.”

“I didn’t know what I looked like so that was a huge weight of my shoulders.”

“It felt restorative – like a baptism, like walking in the ocean, or a mud spring.”

“I feel more free to be myself.”