Beate Ringenberg, a German artist, filmed by Chanhee 20230527
Channel: Dahae다해
Date: 12/01/2024

I met a wonderful artist by chance on Charles Bridge-Karlův most in Prague, Czech Republic, on May 27, 2023. 
She was filming a statue being held by a man.

She is Beate Ringenberg, a German artist who creates art for social change.

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The following article is extracted from her site, www.beateringenberg.com

To work sculpturally and plastically about 15 years ago, Ringenberg created some sculptures in Italy in the "school" of the ceramic master Christian Klenner.  Since then, Ringenberg has been working in the fields of painting and sculpture.

"I am Beate Ringenberg. A German artist who creates art for social change.
I see a lot of devaluation - body shaming is a small part of it - and hunger in the world.
When I talk about hunger, I mean emotional hunger, which is physically palpable and agonizing. 

I know devaluation and emotional hunger very well from my own life. They cause great distress and can be fatal. It is a great challenge to deal with both and to experience a real healing process. My own experiences cause me to try to bring this very serious and widespread problem to public awareness with my artistic work and to want to be part of the solution.  I believe: Art helps! The way out is very difficult and individual.

As for body shaming: I dream that all women-and all men-can be comfortable in their bodies and feel good about themselves, regardless of their shape, size, skin color, or individual characteristics. I think most of you agree with me that it is important and also urgent to question today's beauty ideals because they are harmful to society. A positive body image, body positivity, must become the norm and not the exception.

Are you satisfied with your body? Or have you ever stood in front of the mirror and quibbled with your appearance, your weight, the size of your nose, or your skin color? "If only I had bigger or smaller eyes, ears or breasts! If only I were thinner or more athletic! If only I didn't have wrinkles or smooth skin! And fuller hair!"

Millions of people in Europe and hundreds of millions worldwide are dissatisfied with their bodies. They starve themselves, buy diet products and cosmetics, get Botox injections and even go under the knife of a plastic surgeon.

Industry also encourages our self-doubt and wants us to believe that we can only be happy if we look like supermodels. With the basic human need to feel loved, accepted and have a sense of belonging, tens of billions in profits are made every year.

I am an artist who believes that art has the power to change society. As a woman and as a mother of a daughter who is now grown up, I know what the beauty craze can do to us, how stressful it is not to be satisfied with one's own body and appearance, how much the comparison with others attacks one's own self-esteem. As a victim of this scenario, I became a perpetrator towards my daughter and passed on the suffering to her. There is no real amends for this. I can only hope that one day she can forgive me and more and more healing can happen in her life.  Maybe it can be a small reparation to be an inspiration, encouragement or support for other affected women - and also men - on their way to a happier and more carefree life. 

For me it is part of the right of women - but also of men - to fight for a positive and loving treatment of their own body, body positivity, in our minds and in society.

It must stop pressuring people because of their appearance, which is called body shaming. 
 A positive attitude towards our body has to replace this disease - causing attitude towards our own body. In Europe millions of women and men suffer from body shaming - worldwide hundreds of millions. The desire for a more beautiful body wears many down and even triggers serious mental illnesses such as eating disorders and depression. We can't want that!

In 2008, I sculpted a clay figure that I now call BEAUTIFUL! My goal at that time was to create a sculpture of a woman who feels comfortable with her body, even if she does not conform to the absurd norms of female beauty; norms propagated by the cosmetics, fashion, beauty, and film industries-as well as by much of the media.

Since 1990 I have been dealing with the themes of the body, body hostility, emotional hunger, devaluation - the term body shaming did not exist at that time,.. in a visual way.

I hope that marketers, advertisers, journalists, film producers and directors around the world will increasingly realize that the consequences of emotional hunger and devaluation - body shaming - are very serious.