Now Showing: The Real “American Beauty”

Photographer Carey Fruth’s “American Beauty” photo series features women of all body types posing in the same way actress Mena Suvari did in the film of the same name–nude, while lying on a bed of flower petals. The San Francisco-based lenswoman wanted women to be comfortable in their own skin, regardless of their vital statistics. “By stepping into a fantasy dream girl world and by letting go of that fear, they free themselves up to direct that energy they once wasted on telling themselves that they weren’t good enough to elsewhere in their life,” she explained. With these images, Fruth aimed to challenge the idea of “American Beauty.”