The Moon Ball
The Moon Ball（2024）
The Moon Ball is a fashion photography project that originates from my personal experience of living in a body that exists outside dominant beauty standards. Growing up, I became increasingly aware of how female bodies are constantly observed, measured, and shaped by social expectations. This project began as an exploration of my own relationship with body image, and gradually developed into a broader reflection on femininity, fatness, and cultural ideals of beauty.
The project takes the moon as its central metaphor. Across both Eastern and Western cultures, the moon has long been associated with femininity, fertility, emotion, desire, and the cyclical nature of life. From lunar goddesses and ancient moon worship to literary and mythological representations, the moon embodies a form of feminine power rooted in transformation, creation, and renewal. Its round, full form also resonates with fuller body shapes, creating a symbolic connection between the moon and the fat female body.
Drawing on mythology, art history, and contemporary discussions of body politics, The Moon Ball examines how perceptions of the female body have shifted across time. While fullness and abundance were once associated with beauty, fertility, wealth, and status, contemporary beauty culture increasingly privileges thinness as the ideal. As a result, fat bodies are often subjected to stigma, exclusion, and social judgment.
By reconnecting the symbolism of the moon with the fat female body, The Moon Ball challenges these dominant narratives and proposes an alternative way of seeing. Rather than treating fatness as a flaw or deviation, the project presents it as a site of beauty, presence, and strength. Through this exploration, the work seeks to reclaim visibility for bodies that have been marginalized by conventional standards and to advocate for a more inclusive understanding of femininity, beauty, and bodily diversity.