Perceive Me Panel Discussion - Body Image, Self-Worth, and the Radical Act of Being Seen, Startup Art Fair March 1st 2pm
- Kristine Schomaker
- Feb 20
- 3 min read
Perceive Me Panel Discussion at Start Up Art Fair 2026
Sunday, March 1st at 2pm
What happens when you're truly seen—without judgment, without the constant measuring against impossible standards, without shame?
This March, we're gathering at Start Up Art Fair to talk about the thing we usually avoid: our bodies. How we see them. How we think others see them. Why it matters so much. And what changes when we choose visibility over hiding.
The Panel
I'll be moderating a conversation with six incredible people who've experienced Perceive Me from different angles:
Nancy Kay Turner wrote one of the essays for the original catalog. She and critic Arlene Raven started talking about fat politics and women's bodies back in 1979, and Nancy brings that whole history into conversation with what we're doing now.
Kathryn Pitt created three paintings during our collaborative sessions. She'll talk about what it's like to interpret someone's body with care, to witness without the male gaze, to create art that honors rather than objectifies.
Jason Jenn has been documenting this project through video from the very beginning with LA Art Documents. He's watched it evolve from intimate portrait sessions to public nude drawing experiences, capturing transformation as it happens.
Ray Beldner created a portrait for the original project and can speak to the artist's side of this vulnerable exchange—what shifts when you're holding space for someone's body liberation through your creative practice.
Liberty Worth participated in the nude portrait sessions and wrote this beautiful article about the experience. She's bringing the perspective we need most: what actually happens when you step into that room trembling with nerves and walk out changed.
Surprise Guest – someone from the live nude portrait sessions who'll share their story. Unscripted. Real. The kind of testimony that reminds us why this work matters.
What We'll Actually Talk About
The gap between how we feel inside (powerful, beautiful, enough) and what we see in the mirror (all the things we've been taught are wrong with us).
Why skilled witnessing—being seen by artists who know how to look without judgment—creates healing that therapy sometimes can't touch.
How the beauty industrial complex makes billions off our insecurities, and what direct action against those standards actually looks like.
Why visibility itself is radical when your body has been told to hide.
The Bigger Picture
Between 2018-2019, I posed nude for 60+ artists. Each one interpreted my plus-size body through their own lens—paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, mixed media. The result was this stunning collection of work that proved bodies like mine deserve to be seen as beautiful, complex, worthy of artistic attention.
Then the project evolved. We started facilitating nude portrait sessions at art fairs where anyone over 18 could experience what I'd experienced: being truly seen. Twenty-five minutes in a private room with professional artists creating compassionate portraits. No cameras. No judgment. Just the radical act of being witnessed.
The transformations have been extraordinary. People literally jumping for joy after their sessions. Weeping at the profundity of it. One woman exclaimed "Yeah! Bucket List!!" after trembling with nerves beforehand. Artists describe it as "life-changing," "deeply moving," "holding safe space for vulnerability and healing." Models report that "layers of their own self-talk of negativity were gone."
Why March 1st Matters
This panel happens during Perceive Me's exhibition at Start Up Art Fair—bringing together the collaborative portraits and live nude drawing sessions in one comprehensive presentation. We're combining years of intimate collaborative work with the ongoing transformative public experiences, proving that challenging beauty standards creates measurable transformation in how people see themselves and others.
Join Us
Sunday, March 1st at 2pm Start Up Art Fair The Kinney Hotel, Venice Beach
We'll have stories to tell and space for honest conversation about vulnerability, visibility, and self-worth.
Because body image struggles affect nearly everyone, regardless of size, gender, age, or background. The beauty industrial complex profits from our insecurities. Perceive Me offers a different path—not fixing, but accepting. Not hiding, but revealing. Not shame, but celebration of bodies as they actually are.
Come for the conversation about why the simple act of being seen without shame might be the most radical thing we can do.
Purchase Tickets to the fair: https://www.startup-art.com/los-angeles
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