This series of intimate self-portraits has been a long time coming... it was my sister who was the "pretty one", the "thin one"... I grew up in her shadow... I was her little sister... never able to be mom's "favorite"... These are painful thoughts, years of feeling self-loathing... today I took these photos of myself with love & forgiveness, & thoughts of "I am beautiful"... chubby, but beautiful... My heritage was my sense of myself as a "fat person"... not quite worthy of beauty & love. Feeling deep pains as I write this... but today is the day I fight back & say "It's OK to be fat"... It's beautiful if you feel beautiful inside, if you are loved deeply by a wonderful man & if you love yourself enough to forgive yourself for being "fat"... I think these photos of myself are full of love & beauty... that's how I feel about [ME]... today.