Presentation High School junior Tanya Sun used an image that went viral even before social media for her entry in this year’s Be-You-tiful contest, sponsored by the Campbell-based Eating Disorders Resource Center. Tanya won second place in the high school art category for “Transparency,” which uses a famous 1985 National Geographic cover photo of Afghan refugee Sharbat Gula as the jumping-off point. (Courtesy photo)
Three San Jose students are among the winners of this year’s Be-You-tiful contest, sponsored by the Campbell-based Eating Disorders Resource Center (EDRC). The annual contest asked Bay Area middle and high school students to share their thoughts on how social media affects body image and overall well being.
Presentation High School junior Tanya Sun used an image that went viral even before social media for her contest entry, which won second place in the high school art category. For “Transparency,” Tanya used a 1985 National Geographic cover photo of Afghan refugee Sharbat Gula as the jumping-off point for her artwork. Gula’s photo appeared in the magazine again in 2002 after photographer Steve McCurry tracked her down and verified her identity.
“Her picture…became an emblem for social change and foreign aid organizations in Afghanistan. It spread throughout social media and became a well-known symbol in my childhood,” Tanya wrote in her artist’s statement. “However, this image completely uprooted her life.”
After being deported from Pakistan in 2016, Gula was evacuated to Rome in 2021 after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban.
“Through ‘Transparency,’ I use Gula’s story as an example of how the media’s depiction of others’ narratives can be far from the truth, and that it can create subsequently harmful effects on individuals,” Tanya wrote. “Media often changes the story to fit the narrative it wants to portray, as shown by the green instruments of media (cameras and phones) working to wash Gula in the color. In the process, real people who are depicted are often harmed or made to doubt their own truth, and they are seen in a light which is not their own.”
In the essay and poetry category for middle school students, Stratford San Jose Middle School seventh-grader Alexis Santosa tied for second place with Shrijani T. Hongal, a seventh-grader at William Hopkins Junior High School in Fremont.
In her poem, “My Thumping Heart,” Alexis describes being confronted with social media images that make her doubt her own self-image: “Red spots on my face left and right were all I could see/Yet the screen showed only perfection/I never knew that beauty was not a real reflection/And decided a mask would hide these imperfections.”
The poem also addresses how disordered eating can come from this self-doubt: “As I run to the bathroom choking/Up my lunch/I need to keep down the digits on the scale/No matter how much/I’m dying inside.”
According to the EDRC, As many as 30% of girls and 16% of boys in American high schools suffer from disordered eating.
Leland High School junior Natalie Shin uses knitting as a metaphor in her poem, which took second place in the essay and poetry category for high school students: “Every stitch, every action I make,/There’s holes and mistakes./But others seem so put together./Going to the gym,/Waking up at 5 a.m,/Being as productive as ever.”
“Not Just Knitting” also advocates self-acceptance: “My sweater’s not sparkly and dazzling,/Nor does it brightly shine./But it’s comfortable./It’s mine.”
All second-place winners in the Be-You-tiful contest’s various categories were awarded $200. First-place winners got $300 and third-place winners, $100.
Originally published at Anne Gelhaus