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January 2026
- Bridgett Burrick Brown
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Jayne Mattingly
Beauty of the Month
We are honored to feature Jayne Mattingly as our first Beauty of 2026! Jayne is the author of This Is Body Grief. Her writing gives language to the quiet, complicated, and very real mourning that can arise when life takes an unexpected turn, or when the body you live in no longer mirrors the one you once knew.
What we most appreciate about Jayne’s work is how deeply human it is, naming experiences so many of us feel but rarely know how to articulate. We’re grateful for her courage and honesty in expanding our understanding of bodies, grief, and what it means to live fully within them.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF JAYNE MATTINGLY / interviewed by Beyond Beauty Project
“Perfectionism is a construct of systems of oppression, meant to keep us quiet and
meant to control our behavior.”
Jayne Mattingly is a nationally recognized disability advocate, body image speaker, and author of ‘This Is Body Grief’, a groundbreaking book published by Penguin Random House about what it means to grieve a body that no longer reflects the life you once lived or thought you would live. Jayne coined the term Body Grief to name the very real and often overlooked mourning process that comes with living in a body. She is also the artist behind Dying for Art, an ongoing series of bold, abstract paintings that explore what it means to create in a body that is constantly navigating decline, pain, and beauty. Jayne’s art, like her book, is a rebellion against erasure—proof that disabled bodies can hold grief and power, stillness and brilliance, all at once.
The Beyond Beauty Project is for every body.
How did you discover the Beyond Beauty Project, and what initially drew you to it?
Jayne Mattingly: I have actively been following the content of The Beyond Beauty Project as their mission to support body positivity in all forms resonated with me and aligns with my own disability advocacy work and the message I share in my book, "This Is Body Grief", published by Penguin Random House.
At some point, many of us realize that living by societal expectations doesn’t feel like our truth.
Did you experience a turning point when you decided to define your own path? What was that moment like for you?
Jayne: My personal exploration of Body Grief came as an evolution. As I received multiple chronic illness diagnoses, underwent surgeries that decimated the body I once knew, and was put on a new path not of my own choosing to navigate the world in a disabled body, I chose to become curious. I am a trained therapist, and understanding the ‘why’ behind what I was thinking and feeling became an important part of me navigating my own Body Grief, and so I made it my mission to dig deep and educate myself on Body Grief, how it manifests itself, and how to navigate it as a human in the modern world. It is important to make a distinction, though, that "why" doesn’t mean a complete knowing or understanding. Body Grief is a physical, spiritual, and emotional acceptance of your body and what it means to you. There is no ‘right’ way to do Body Grief, and the experience of Body Grief never truly comes to an end and is something every human is navigating to some degree throughout their lifetime.
“I would tell my younger self to lean into failure,
as much as it hurts.”
Looking back often brings clarity and compassion.
If you could speak to your younger self, what would you say about perfectionism and comparing yourself to others?
Jayne: Perfectionism is a construct of systems of oppression, meant to keep us quiet and meant to control our behavior, it is a tenet of white supremacy and keeps us in an ableist cycle of "good" and "bad", "right" and "wrong". Instead, I would tell my younger self to lean into failure as much as it hurts. Failure teaches us so much about ourselves, about creativity, strength, compassion, and patience.
It’s easy to feel like we’re “behind” in life or not moving fast enough.
How do you remind yourself that your pace is the right pace for you? Or is this something you’re still learning to navigate?
Jayne: Pacing is key to my self-awareness with my chronic illness. In my Body Grief journey, and in learning body trust, learning to slow down when my body says it's tired or keep going when my body has the energy, has been instrumental in allowing me to show up for myself and others the way I choose to and want to.
Our understanding of beauty shifts as we grow. How has your perception of beauty changed over the years?
Jayne: As a woman experiencing Body Grief, I was forced to confront many patriarchal stereotypes of femininity and actively choose to serve as a representation of something different. My body has a softness now and is at a larger size from living life in a wheelchair. I lost the ability to bear children. My role in my marriage was forced to evolve. All of the traditional aspects of being considered ‘feminine’ have changed for me and yet I feel I am more powerful, more dignified, and more impactful than ever before because of the greater purpose I have found through my own Body Grief.
Authenticity can be a daily practice.
What helps you stay true to yourself in a world full of expectations?
Jayne: My Dying for Art series and the process of creating my artwork have been the most transformational component to healing how I process my Body Grief. Rediscovering my passion for painting and using the canvas, colors, and textures of the painting process to express and transform my Body Grief into a tangible and visible signifier of the beauty that can come from varied emotional states has been truly transformative for me. I wake up each day and go to sleep each night thinking about painting with excitement to get my feelings and thoughts onto canvas.
“I unapologetically give myself the permission to sit
with my emotions.”
Self-love looks different for everyone.
How do you practice self-love in your daily life?
Jayne: Truly listening to my mind/body/spirit connection, practicing the Body Grief framework of exercises I established, leaning into creativity, and pouring my feelings, pain, and Body Grief into advocacy, community building, and care, and my artwork have been hugely transformative in my rituals of self-love in daily life.
Caring for the body is both physical and emotional.
What are some ways you honor your body—physically, mentally, or emotionally?
Jayne: One of the greatest lessons I have learned through this journey is that it is okay to Grieve. I have become very attuned with my body - both my pains and my joys. I unapologetically give myself the permission to sit with my emotions, experience my physicality, and Grieve for what could have been, what is, and what I want to be. By allowing myself, knowingly, to experience Body Grief, I am able to tap into an internal well of understanding that allows me to transmute that experience for myself in a way that is beautiful.
Is there a story, lesson, or mantra that has guided you along the way that you’d like to share with others?
Jayne: My work as a disability advocate has been one of the most meaningful outcomes of my life's journey. My hopes for an inclusive and accessible world for the disabled aren’t that radical. Safe sidewalks and means of transportation, bathrooms with accessible toilet heights, stores and business establishments with ramps to enter and aisles wide enough for wheelchairs to pass through, closed captioning and sign language support for those with sight and hearing needs, equal employment rights - these are simple things for which the technology and ability exist to enact and yet the social construct in which we live prevents.
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Website:
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