This Artist Puts Glitters On Women's Stretch Marks

These days, with a few key strokes and taps, our photos can look picture perfect, ready for sharing to the world on our social media accounts. Apps, Photoshop, and everything in between have been created to help us edit and enhance our selfies to look way better than they actually appear, making it a prerequisite to posting. Blemishes, scars, unruly hair, and love handles have been erased from our Instagram feeds, but one artist has gone the opposite route and decided to sprinkle glitter on them instead.

Meet Sarah Shakeel, Award-Winning Artist who turns otherwise regular photos into works of art, doing her magic touch of peppering them with glitters and crystals, making them instant viral hits online. While we like to casually "Kirakira" our Instagram posts and stories, Sara finds her art to be therapeutic, especially after her failed attempts at wanting to graduate to be a dentist. In an interview with ELLE Decor, Sara shared, "After 16 failed attempts, I left the school, and I found Instagram as a source of comfort. I cancelled all my personal photos and without any artistic background, I began to make these collages."

Eventually, she gained attention online as she continued this passion, with celebrities sharing her work, and companies like Forbes contacting her. Today, Sara can be found on her Instagram page @sarashakeel, but she also has a passion project called "@glitterstretchmarks", where she showcases her work on women's bodies—imperfections and all. 

Stretch marks, according to Medical News Today, are long, narrow streaks, stripes, or lines that develop on the skin. This happens when the skin is stretched, and is a normal occurrence, not just for women. Sadly though, a lot of us consider stretch marks as imperfections, and something to get rid of quickly using creams and the like.

Sara wishes to make a difference in this outlook, by 'healing through art'. This way, she celebrates women and their imperfect bodies, by pushing body positivity through glitter and crystal art. One look at these striking images immediately changes our perspective on this topic, giving us a new way of seeing something that used to be deemed 'ugly'. Each one of her posts hold a unique story, from pregnant women to bodies that have undergone surgery—each one worthy of a read and double tap. 

Ahead, we've gathered some of our favorite Glitter Stretch Marks photos, for your viewing pleasure:

All photos via @glitterstretchmarks