Description:

Sensual & Sensitive! 2008 calendar of self-portraits by artist Mary Bogdan. "This series of intimate photographs has been a long time coming... it was my sister who was the "pretty one"... the "thin one"... the "smart one"... I grew up in her shadow... I was her little sister... never quite matching up to her, 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 and forgiveness, and thoughts of "I am beautiful"... chubby, but beautiful... Feeling deep pains as I write this... but today is the day I fight back and say to my mother "It's OK to be fat"... It's beautiful if you feel beautiful inside, if you are loved deeply by a wonderful man, and if you love yourself enough to forgive yourself for being "fat".... I think these photos of myself are full of love and beauty... that's how I feel about [ME].... today...."