'I want all bodies to be seen as beautiful' Artist breaks down taboos by painting stretch marks and period stains

One artist is encouraging women to embrace their 'imperfections' by experimenting with colour to reclaim their bodies – just as they are.

Cinta Tort Cartró, from a rural town in southern Spain, has just graduated from the University of Barcleona with a teaching degree, but her passion has always been for creating beautiful works of art.

Now she's created a project which aims to help women love the natural parts of themselves they've often been conditioned to dislike, by painting beautiful rainbow designs onto stretch marks, period stains and sanitary products.

The 21-year-old has already gained nearly 30k followers, and is using her newfound platform to help spread the important message.

Speaking to Metro, she said: 'Around a year ago I started to question why I was doing certain things to my body. I started to love myself a little more, started to work on self-love, and started to empower myself.'

'Here began a stage in my career in which I started working to show all the pressure there is towards women and their bodies.'

'Over the years, I saw that if I did not accept everything about my body – hair, stretch marks, etc – I was not accepting myself, and I could never really know or love myself,’ she explains.

'I have been very insecure throughout my life, and working to break these insecurities is a big job. I am very proud of what I've achieved, but I've still got a long way to go.'

'I want all bodies to be seen as equally valid and beautiful. We are all different, our bodies are different, but in each of us there is beauty.'

'We must fight against the aesthetic pressure and we must accept once and for all that we are different, and that diversity is wonderful. We must work together to break down the aesthetic standards so that everyone can be loved and accepted as they are.'

Her work has been received incredibly well, with lots of women applauding her message.

'This made me really happy and actually really made me stop and think of my own image,' wrote one commenter. 'I spent a lot of the time knowing what I should think about my body but failing to love it. But this really has a positive impact, strong one. Thank you, amazing idea.'