Call for Rotorua teens to discuss body confidence in documentary

As part of the film making process Mandi Lynn has been interviewing girls between 10 and 19. Photo / Mandi Lynn

A simple question has sent a photographer on a journey that has taken her around the country, including to Rotorua.

"Aunty Mandi, am I fat?" Mandi Lynn's niece asked about 18 months ago.

"I thought 'how is a 5-year-old even thinking this? Where is this coming from?'"

Those are the questions the award-winning photographer is trying to answer in her documentary Finding Venus.

"I've been interviewing teens and tweens around the country and trying to get an insight into what's going on," Lynn said.

This weekend, she is looking for girls 10-19, and their mothers, to ask questions about body confidence for her documentary. The aim is to identify trends.

Mandi Lynn. Photo / Supplied

She'll be asking them to describe their personality and then describe their body. In previous towns, Lynn said there had been "massive variations" between what they described.

"I can interview 7-9-year-olds and they are all like I'm awesome and pretty … then we find that slides a bit," Lynn said.

"The older they get they can be more critical.

"That's what I'm trying to get - where is that shift happening and why?"

The film is funded by the New Zealand Film Commission. Lynn has also received grants from some cities.

The Wellington-based photographer was also fundraising for the project by photographing the girls she interviewed and selling those photos to their families.

"I take their photo in a flower crown and they just look so innocent, and it reaffirms that beauty."

Lynn was asking those interested in participating to register at https://themojoartist.com/rotorua, then she would select a few to interview. They must be accompanied by an adult.

Lynn has several other projects on the go, all are linked.

She's also creating an exhibition of photos of women's nude torsos covered in a golden clay. That exhibition was also inspired by the "am I fat" comment.

The movie started out as being about that exhibition but has morphed.

"We discovered the movie was really about where the girls fell off the wagon in terms of being confident," Lynn said.

"How do we as mothers help shape young women into confident powerful women?

"How do we keep them from losing their energy worrying about the size of their a** and instead worrying about what they are going to bring to the world?"