Passion Projects

mind. body. voice. Passion Projects

The mind. body. voice. program has three main strands: using the mind to identify and challenge appearance bias, connecting and listening to the body, and using our voices to speak up. These strands are woven together to create a program that talks back to pressures related to our appearances. The “voice” section of the program focuses on activism projects called Passion Projects. These group projects take all that we discuss in the program and translate it into action. How do we start to shift our communities so that we are valued for who we are, not what we look like? The projects address social issues as they relate to appearances, such as fatphobia, racism, and colorism. The projects below are from our Fall 2020 semester with students from 11 BVSD high schools, as well as projects from our collaboration with Girls Inc. during the summer. The students worked in small groups to choose their topics for the projects, met virtually to collaborate, and completed these projects entirely remotely. Explore each project in this digital gallery and together we can work towards a supportive community that sees beyond appearance.

Past Passion Projects
 

Racial Appearance Bias
How Appearance Bias Affects You and Your Personal Style
Appearance Bias

Love Yourself

This is a Passion Project in which students went out in the community and asked pedestrians along a busy public street if they were willing to be part of the project. If so, they asked people to write down one physical and one inner quality they liked about themselves on a sign. The students then took a photo of the individual with their sign. The students observed that people were excited to be part of the project, and that, in general, it was much harder for people to come up with physical qualities that they liked about themselves.

You Are Loved

This is a Passion Projects in which students celebrated the message "You are loved.” This message was picked by the students because they thought it was universally meaningful for all genders, races, abilities, and sexualities.

The students picked the bracelets because they wanted to give people something physical that they could look at every day to remind themselves that we all are so much more than our appearance.

 

 

Size Does Not Define Us
Self Confidence
Combat Appearance Bias