Woman Documents Weight Loss in Dressing Room Photos
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ABC News(MILWAUKEE) — Julia Kozerski is not unusual in that she was inspired to make a lifestyle change and lose weight after getting married. But Kozerski, 28, is unusual in the way she chose to document her weight-loss journey, and the way that is now inspiring other woman to do the same.
Kozerski, a photographer in Milwaukee, photographed each step of her weight loss inside often-cramped rooms with unflattering mirrors and harsh lighting, where women confront their issues head-on.
“The photos were something that I could keep with me as a reference and I could flip through them,” she told ABC’s Good Morning America. “I could look at the pictures and say, ‘Ok, do I want to go backwards or do I want to go forward and continue with my progress.”
Kozerski photographed her yearlong journey from 2010 to 2011 while an art student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. She turned her photographs, taken using a smartphone, into an art project called “Changing Room,” where she explored her changing identity as her weight dropped.
In one year, Kozerski lost 160 pounds.
“It’s unbelievable for me to think about where I am right now and then think about who I was at that time,” she said.
From casual wear to ball gowns to cocktail dresses, Kozerski captured herself in 200 different outfits. Through the changing attire, Kozerski showed both the physical and emotional changes she endured.
Though Kozerski began the art project for herself personally, the private nature of it changed after she printed and posted a close-up photo of her skin with stretch marks during a classroom critique of “Changing Room.”
“I had an outpouring of support and my classmates wanted to know more,” she told GMA.
Now Kozerski’s private art and weigh loss is public and she hopes her journey will inspire others.
“It’s about being happy with yourself no matter what size or what weight you are at,” she said.
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