The women in Jack Lampart-Mitchell's photographs may look like supermodels but their lives are worlds apart from the world of glamour.

A single mother of four working as a checkout assistant, a recovering anorexic with a heroin addiction and an unemployed actress, they have all become the unlikely stars of a unique exhibition.

All different shapes, sizes and ages, the women have been photographed for their inner beauty rather than their good looks.

His pictures of the women are being showcased at The Queen's Hotel in Kings Road, as part of the Brighton Festival.

Aged from 20 to 50, they all suffer from self-image problems and have never modelled nude before.

Mr Lampart-Mitchell said: "The idea of the exhibition is to challenge perceptions about what is beautiful.

"I wanted to show that ordinary people, the sort of people you see walking in the street every day, are just as capable of being models as Kate Moss or Naomi Campbell."

The women, all from the South-East, are anonymous and their faces have not been pictured.

One of the oldest models is a 46-year-old Mr Lampart-Mitchell met in his supermarket.

Having spoken to her on several occasions, he asked her if she would consider modelling and she eventually agreed.

He said: "She was beaten up by an alcoholic husband before he walked out on her leaving her with four kids. Now she works in the supermarket and thinks she is nothing.

"But I have never met a more friendly lady. She is a lovely woman and I wanted to capture that."

Another subject, known only as Yvette, is a 40-year-old recovering from anorexia and heroin addiction. A younger model, 26-year-old Rebecca, suffers from facial acne, whereas the oldest subject, aged 50, described herself as a "pygmy elephant."

Mr Lampart-Mitchell, 65, who lives in London, has not digitally enhanced any of the pictures and describes them as "artistic nudes."

The exhibition of 18 photographs is running in the Buckingham Suite at the Queen's Hotel until the end of May.