In 2017, it feels as though it would be easy to dismiss Instagram as simply a haven of self-educated fitness gurus, wellness bloggers, and teeny-tiny-waisted models. A place that can sometimes make you feel worse about yourself than you did when you woke up.
But if that is the case, as it was for me up until recently, you’re probably following the wrong accounts.
For every #flawless selfie and perfectly lit bikini shoot, there are countless body positive accounts encouraging women to diss unrealistic standards and get to a place of loving themselves when they look in the mirror. Which is exactly where the Instagram account of 24-year-old Sydney-based artist Christine Yahya, @pink_bits comes in.
“Initially when I started I wasn’t consciously drawing to start a page or that kind of thing. To be honest, one night I was drawing and drawing from my own photos to see my shapes on a page and on a whim I was like, ‘okay, I think I’d like these to have their own space’ and just made a dedicated Instagram for it,” Yahya tells Mamamia.
“And at the time people seemed to feel the same sense of empowerment from it that I did.”
Empowering is just one word to describe the illustrations that grace the account. Complex, beautiful, realistic and inclusive are others that fit Yahya’s carefully curated spectrum.
Different shapes, sizes, colours, body hair, disabilities and health conditions are all included in Yahya’s artwork – as are everyday activities that are known to women like using tampons, masturbating and taking a bath.
