Ruby Pickles

Ruby is a confident and explorative creative who has begun to specialise in styling and photography through her Fashion Promotion Foundation course. As she goes on to study Fashion Communication at a degree level, she is content with her growing ambition to become a creative director and hopes to develop in all areas of fashion promotion. Her final major project showed a real turning point for her work, as she looked at conveying a strong and personal message on the inclusivity in the dance world. Through target research, she found it abundantly clear that not everyone feels as if they are able to enjoy the movement of dance due to stereotypical and historical factors. Looking back through different eras in dance, Ruby found many contributors to the lack of confidence for people who for example, think they are "too big" or, don't fit into the gender categories. One of her main focus points was the lack of opportunities in dance for people of colour, as she constantly challenged popular advertisements and big companies who failed to show diversity. Interviewing people affected by the non-inclusive world became a channel for her to learn and discuss what exposure was needed to make dance an all-inclusive movement.

merengue
merengueStyled shoot looking at merengue dancing and mimicking the upper classes 'masters dance', role reversal using gay and diverse models to challenge historical tropes
gender norms
gender norms Interviewing non-binary dancer Silas to explore how comfortable they are fitting into gender roles in dance positions.
fetishized
fetishizedLooking at the fetishization of dancers and how dangerous and destructive it can be to the self image and mental health of dancers.
race and class
race and classAfter looking back at the working class in the early 1900's I wanted to flip the angle on race and it's association with class which is still prevalent today.
i am still able
i am still able As an inclusive magazine i wanted to ensure i captured a variety of people and make them feel as beautiful as they were when completely mobile.