Photography: Amazing Photos Promote Body Positivity
(Photo Credits: Screengrab from Arrested Movement YouTube)
A photographer named Anthony Patrick Manieri has a photo project called Arrested Movement which aims to “promote and celebrate positive body image for men.“
In an interview with Gay Star News, Manieri said the project was born out of the observations he’s made from his clients who, time and again, would “mention something about themselves that they didn’t like.” Manieri added that his clients preferred that he “mask that specific physical insecurity.”
Manieri said it was something that struck a chord in him. “It was a behavior I practiced as well in my 20’s and 30’s. I would immediately mention my weight when I would walk into a room and make a joke about it first, in hopes that no one else would.”
Manieri studies spirituality and practices mindfulness and meditation which helped shaped the “idea of promoting body positivity.” He mentioned Masaru Emoto who posited that “water has consciousness, and it reacts to positive and negative energy and vibration.” Following Masaru’s beliefs, Manieri explained that since 60% of the adult human body is water, “if we body shame ourselves, or other people for that matter, it will inherently affect us on a molecular level. Our bodies can hear us, so we need to be kind to ourselves.”
Arrested Movement, Manieri emphasized, is “an inclusive project about self-empowerment and self-love.” His models, most of whom are gay, posed for him because they “believed the message behind it could help others, if not just themselves.” Read the whole interview here.
Adam4Adam members who are interested to pose for Manieri’s Arrested Movement project may contact him here. According to the project’s website, Manieri will be shooting in the following cities: in Canada they will be in Halifax, Ottawa, and Vancouver; in the US—Atlanta, Dallas, LA, Miami, NYC, Phoenix, and Seattle; in Europe—Hamburg, Madrid, Paris, and Rome. They are already done photographing in Montreal, Toronto, and London.
Want more of Manieri’s photos? Check out Arrested Movement’s Instagram account here and don’t forget to follow Adam4Adam’s official Instagram account while you are at it.
Thoughts? Share it with us in the comments section below.
Does anyone recognize the irony of the article on body positivity followed by the others that foster body dysmorphia?
Where is that article about body dysmorphia Rick?
I’m so very glad to see this. For years I have been photographing and celebrating men of all colors, shapes and sizes. This brings me joy.
You can tell yourself it’s positive just like Gabourey Sidibe can say she’s beautiful.
Bravo! Bravo! This is so very Nice! This project is much like the nude Sport Illustrated issue where they are showing larger men’s bodies and appreciating them in all their greatness. Also reminds me of the relatively celebration of Plus/Full-size woman in fashion and on the runway. Never thought (we) men Str8 or Gay really were deeply affected by body image. Sure advertisements show fit tone bodies and equate them with health, success and as desirable. But being “large & and charge”‘ “a Big man on campus” or a “Fat Cat” were/are also men of worth. Look forward to seeing more. Male Media Mind is another resource which displays “body positive images” of some of the most Beautiful full-size men.
You can be men of worth to yourself and people like you. But others don’t have to be attracted to you though.
Your antiquated belief about WHAT makes people attractive is disgusting, just as there are different love styles, there are different standards of beauty around the world. Hopefully you will figure that one out SOON as no one takes a BEAUTIFUL/SEXY body into eternity …
Water does NOT have consciousness. To say so is to ridicule what consciousness actually means. It is chemically reactive, that is not awareness, intelligence. What idiocy. New Age drivel. And to derive from that the idea that the water in our body is responding to our thoughts is a way of further victimizing individuals and blaming them for whatever supposed flaws they might have.
After reading this, I feel like I just fell out of an Erhard Seminars Training, (EST) course from 1972.
“water has consciousness, and it reacts to positive and negative energy and vibration.”.
Perhaps this has some truth too it, having been around enough people that have quenched their thirst in water that has been aged in sugar, yeast, and corn mash to the point of almost unconsciousness.
They always have plenty of positive and negative energy and dont care about anyones flaws at last call.
The take away from this project should be the thought we all have a flaw of one sort or another and too just except yourself, and each other as they present themselves with all their flaws, both the current and yet ti be revealed.
There is peace in knowing with time and age the buff chested gym jock becomes the sagging man teats, the standoffish pretty boy becomes the lonely bitter bar bitch, et al.
Forget about the water has consciousness bull you’re not a Changling, but you are part of the Great Link, of a society.
Now guys who are “Not Hot” have a place!
After all, we all can agree that untold numbers of “Not Hot” men find and appreciate each other every day, right? Somehow they leave sadly alone those who say “fat, wrinkled guys at the gym (or even at a naked dining restaurant) are guys we just don’t want to see” and wondering why they “just can’t find Mr. Right” (or even “Mr. Right Now.”)
Speaking as a “Not Hot” myself, I don’t see myself posing. I’m solid in who I am beyond the body I have. I can credit that to the handful of really great men in my life who value me for who I am, not for how I’m built, the “beauty” in my face, what fashionable clothes I have, what trendy people I hobnob with, etc.
But I for sure can see where this would be a valuable place for those who need to self-empowerment”. And I look forward to A4A embracing this opportunity to acknowledge that gay men go far beyond the typical stereotypes.
….I think it all depends on many factors, his proportion; where-how he carries his weight. Personally, being on the lean-athletic side, my last lover was a good combo of muscle w/a bit of a belly as well, I LOVED his physicality. He felt pretty damn good. I don’t want to give in to the all too typical shallowness that pervades us homo’s, I’d rather open my mind to what ‘he’ is about. All admit, I’m attracted to many physical-types of men, I liked Ed Asner of the “Mary Tyler Moore show” for crying out loud, lol, John Goodman of the “Rosanne Barr show.” I think ‘if’ you can see something of their inner being, it goes beyond the physical being, I ‘m lean so, I like a little heft on a man.