A Sydney-based artist who battled with a variety of eating disorders wants to help to provide positive images in the media for women to look up to.
Christine Yahya, 24, found herself slowly being consumed by anorexia when she was 15.
‘I was wanting to fit in and to be considered beautiful,’ she told FEMAIL.
‘I associated happiness with a size, I thought happiness and success would come once I hit a certain amount of kilos.’
Christine Yahya, 24, (pictured) found herself slowly being consumed by anorexia when she was 15
She is an artist who battled with a variety of eating disorders and wants to help provide positive images in the media for women to look up to
While Christine said it ‘didn’t begin at the drop of a hat’ and the weight didn’t drop off extremely quickly, she said ‘that toxic way of thinking’ and that negative self comparison to images, marketing and media around me started about then.
‘In retrospect it’s a highly damaging way of thinking and far from the truth,’ she told FEMAIL.
‘It was me comparing myself too much, I wanted to be beautiful and normal at the same time but it ended up being a beast of a condition.
‘When you’re in that place it’s on your mind 24/7, you can’t stop thinking about what your eating, what you’re consuming and what the caloric amount of food is.’
‘It was me comparing myself too much, I wanted to be beautiful and normal at the same time but it ended up being a beast of a condition’
Christine explained that she had anorexia for a couple of years before developing a binge eating disorder, which spiralled into bulimia.
‘My sense of self and sense of self worth was non existent, which fuelled me to strive to be x, y and z and trying to fit in with what the media was saying women were supposed to be.’
She battled with eating disorders for approximately seven years of her life and at the beginning of it all she didn’t realise it was going to be as toxic as it was.
‘I was just thinking “yeah i want to lose some weight”, it’s astounding how many young people go on diets at that age,’ she explained.
Christine explained that she had anorexia for a couple of years before developing a binge eating disorder and then bulimia
Christine added that she was motivated by wanting to fit in which is why she strived to be what she saw in the media.
‘I’m recovered now which is great but it was a long road and I went full circle,’ she said.
‘I had started off at a healthy weight, then it was drastically low from not eating anything, then I was eating a high consumption in a bad way through binge eating.’
Christine explained that she was motivated by wanting to fit in which is why she strived to be what she saw in the media
When Christine was bulimic later on she explained that she was still ‘feeling cr*p’ and it was this point that she found a psychologist.
She started going to the gym for a few classes and gained some balance back in her life through treating her body healthily and changing her relationship with food.
‘During that whole time I didn’t think I had a problem but we got there in the end which is really amazing.’
She started going to the gym for a few classes and started gaining balance back in her life through treating her body healthily and changing her relationship with food
Last year Christine started drawing diverse women for her Instagram account Pink Bits.
‘[The page] shows me how far I’ve come in a strange way as I’m viewing all these stunning, beautiful bodies that I’m drawing but five or seven years ago I wouldn’t have thought that [they were beautiful].’
Although she acknowledged that in this day and age we’re not in a perfect place, there is a lot more diversity in our culture then there used to be.
Last year Christine started drawing diverse women for her Instagram account Pink Bits
‘It was this narrow mould of woman that I looked up to in my earlier years that impacted me to take such extreme action to alter myself.
‘This is why through my art I want to represent as many women as possible. Representation is so important, not only to those individuals, but as a wider society.
‘There are so many women who are not represented in everyday media – I want to diversify that,’ she told FEMAIL.
She explained that her art work acts as a form of therapy and helps her continue her positive view of her own body.
‘Finding body positivity and the body positive community has changed my life.
‘It has helped me develop a healthier approach to treating my body and mind with kindness, love, and care. I view my body and myself entirely differently to how I once did.’
She explained that her art work acts as a form of therapy and helps her continue her positive view of her own body
Christine’s work has obviously struck a chord with the public as she currently has 25,000 Instagram followers.
‘It’s so humbling that my work resonates with so many people,’ she said.
‘I’ve received so many beautiful personal messages from individuals, telling me about their personal experiences, things they’ve overcome or are overcoming, and how my work has impacted them – those responses really touch me, and drive me to create more and represent more women.’