‘Face It’ challenges personal insecurities

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SPARK and Girls 4 Good hosted the second annual photography exhibition of “Face It,” which challenges women to think about their insecurities. Marwan Alenezi // Contributing Photographer

Photography and creativity combine to shine light on young women’s personal insecurities during the “Face It” photography exhibition.

On Tuesday, SPARK and Girls 4 Good hosted the second annual exhibition designed to challenge women to think about their insecurities.

The photo project asked dozens of young women in the university community to write a personal insecurity onto their bodies. Underneath it was a caption that provided context to the photo and what the insecurity meant to them in their lives.

Danielle Sheerer, a junior majoring in mathematics and member of Girls 4 Good, was one of the women who volunteered to have her photo taken. She believes the biggest challenge facing young women in the community is the many high societal expectations.

“Women, in general, have much more labels than men do,” Sheerer said.

As part of the interactive exhibit, gallery guests were given post-it notes at the entrance and were urged to write something meaningful, empowering, or factual to their photographed peers, many of whom were at the event.

Valerie Quirk, a junior studying marketing and visual journalism, founded Girls 4 Good when she was a freshman at Central High School in Springfield, Missouri. In an effort to keep it going, she brought it with her to UM and joined forces with SPARK to create and organize the event.

“Almost everyone is caught up in a fast-paced life and they don’t take a second to think about the stress that puts on them individually,” Quirk said. “It’s nice to give them this opportunity to take a moment of reflection on insecurities. In doing so, people release themselves in a way.”

Quirk also believes the exhibition served to help individuals.

“Acknowledging insecurities in front of people is freeing yourself from them,” Valerie said. “First step in solving a problem is admitting it exists.”