Your Stories - Serena

Content Warning: These stories contain mentions of body dysmorphia, body image struggles, pregnancy loss, fertility struggles and gendered violence. If you find any of the below triggering, please find a list of helpful and free resources below:

DV/SV: 1800 RESPECT

Mental Health: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

Eating Disorders and Body Image Issues: Butterfly Foundation 1800 ED HOPE

Serena, a dear friend of the studio, has spent most of her life being hard because she had to be.

She had to be hard enough to survive and to keep moving, and to not feel. Hard enough to belong in rooms that were never built with her in mind. Somewhere along the way, strength became armour and softness felt almost dangerous to embrace.

Coming from an era that gave women mixed messages and then blamed them for being confused, one where bodies were commented on constantly and protected rarely and where girls learned early that attention was conditional and safety was not guaranteed. Her body learned to brace before her mind ever caught up.

Serena is an absolute rocket, wildly interesting and very exciting. She has lived many lives inside one skin. Punk. Goth. Police officer. Detective. Mother. And one that really cemented as an identity; The rescuer. The woman who put on a uniform and hoped it would finally make her untouchable, however she learned it didn’t.

Her body has been punished, pushed, scrutinised, reshaped, medicated, disciplined, survived. Tattoos and piercings became a language when words weren’t safe. Expression and endurance braided together until it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began.

Her previous shoot with us reflected this strength and power but Serena wanted this one to be different and instead to show her soft feminine side, the one under the armour. Not decorative or fragile but soft in the way that says you don’t have to be on guard anymore.

She came prepared with outfits and props and what was able to be captured was the soft side; light, gentle, playful, feminine and sexy as hell. There was laughter. Ease. A surprising amount of joy. No rescuing. No managing. Just her, without the pressure of the world on her shoulders. Proving that you can be soft and strong, and softness is NOT a weakness. (Despite her inner Chuck Norris).