healthmedicinet

Ming Au: ‘The “I’m Tired” Project

Facing discrimination every day is a tiring, never-ending battle that all too often goes unnoticed. 

“I’m tired of being the angry black woman.”

“I’m tired of being told I’m too skinny for a guy.” 

“I’m tired of men thinking they have the right to catcall me.” 

The series deals with stereotypes of different identities including race, gender, sexuality and body image.

Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project

“Growing up, in a mostly Caucasian area, I had not [realized] until I was much older that the image of a black boy or man is often one of anger or aggression.”  

“When we are able to relate to a picture on a deeply personal level, it brings about almost a feeling of camaraderie because there is someone out there who understands exactly how you feel and has been able to articulate in a way that hopefully informs many others,” co-creator of the project Paula Akpan told The Huffington Post.   

After photographing each participant, Akpan and Evans asked them to explain their feelings in more detail in a written paragraph below their image.  

Scroll below to see the Akpan’s and Evans’ riveting images. 

• Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project
  

  “The ‘ideal body’ is an elusive thing.”

• Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project
  

  “The reasons for my rage and my anger should not be pushed aside and belittled simply because of the color of my skin.”

• Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project
  

  “Time and time again, young girls and women are told that they can’t — the reason? Simply that they are not the ‘right’ gender.” 

• Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project
  

  “The tendency of some to reduce my achievements to a mere by-product of my race undermines the level of sacrifice that I, and others around me, have invested into my upbringing.”

• Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project
  

  “It helps me to feel like my body is mine, and I feel beautiful this way. Yet I am constantly told that I shouldn’t.”

• Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project
  

  “My skin color and my race represent who I am and where I come from, but shouldn’t dictate how people treat me.”

• Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project
  

  “Fixating on the notion that to be gay, you must have at some point ‘turned’ from being straight is nonsensical and society’s obsession with forcing people into neatly labelled boxes is unproductive.”

• Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project
  

  “I quite simply wish to suggest that nobody, male or female, should be judged on their body.”

• Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project
  

  “As if it was that simple, as if I didn’t try.” 

• Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project
  

  “Unfortunately, personal experience and mainstream media portrayal still suggests that despite palpable progressive steps in society, the sporting world is lagging behind and proving a stubborn area of contention to overcome, especially at universities.” 

• Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project
  

  “Even the definition of poverty has been changed to imply it is caused solely by poor choices, not structural reasons.” 

• Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project
  

• Ming Au/The “I’m Tired” Project
  

  “It’s almost as if relationships and marriage are still what women should ‘focus’ on, and that anything else will inevitably be ‘difficult.’”