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Unmarried Woman Poses With Family Of Mannequins To Expose Myth Of 'The Perfect Life'

How One Woman Is Sticking Two Fingers Up At The Idea Of 'Having It All'
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Suzanne Heintz

In 2014 women are expected not only to bring home the bacon, but cook it and clear the table after everyone has eaten. Not only is it confusing, but it's exhausting.

Tired of this pressure to 'have it all', American photographer Suzanne Heintz decided to make a stand and expose the image of the ideal family life for its superficiality and rigidity.

To achieve this she enlisted a family of mannequins - "the only family you can buy on credit card" - to play out typical familial scenes from sight-seeing to eating breakfast.

"We love the idea of a well-lived life," Suzanne told HuffPost UK Lifestyle. "Though rarely does anyone’s life look the way it 'should'. We are somehow never enough, just as we are. We are constantly set up by our expectations to feel as though we are missing something."

She adds: "I feel very fortunate that I was born when I was. I have more choices and opportunities than any generation of women before me, but our roles have never been more complicated by deeply ingrained mixed messages, from both previous and present generations."

Suzanne believes that the modern day is full of new pressures for women, whose success in life is measured across education, career, home and family life.

She explains: "If any one of those things is left out, it’s often perceived that there’s something wrong with your life.

"I ask people, particularly women, to proudly embrace their lives for who it’s made them, with or without the Mrs., PhD. or Esq. attached to their name."

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