The first of her patch, Esraa studied arts at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Egypt and graduated in 2012, becoming a lecturer at the same faculty later on. She then pursued her Masters Degree on The Human Anatomy for artists and is currently working on her PHD, which is about “The unusual beauty proportions through the different stages in the history of art “.
Esraa’s story began when she graduated from the faculty knowing nothing but the strict rules of the academic lessons she’d learned in her five year-study in the faculty, struggling to find her own artistic identity. At the same time, she went on to join Instagram where everyone looked no less than “perfect” in modern perception.
Thinking that she might not be enough and that her eye color, hair, weight etc. don’t fit the modern-day beauty standards, Esraa woke up one day, realizing that it’s not about her, it is about a sort of marketing promoting specific features: only this and that are deemed beautiful, and you are not beautiful unless you do this or that..
“I want every girl or woman around the globe to feel beautiful no matter how she looks and how much she weighs. We are not supposed to look alike! Everyone is different in his own beautiful way and every woman is enough the way she is.”
Esraa then decided to express her feelings through art and turn them into art pieces, and that’s when she produced an entire group of paintings, depicting her own views on beauty and self-acceptance. “Every woman around me from every age, shape, and weight loved them. They felt represented. “
“I found my artistic self when I told a very real story that is related to me and my surroundings. All I wanted was to feel accepted and happy, and for other women to feel the same all the time. No one has the right to take that from us . And that’s exactly what I am trying to teach my students now: to dig deep in their own stories to find their own artistic identity, which is very hard. “
To keep up with Esraa’s creative projects, visit this link.