Solo show: BIG!
I've been thinking a lot lately about the idea of self-love and body positivity - mainly about the fact that you can't love yourself out of systemic bias. So often the issue of fatphobia is framed as a call coming from inside the house, but I really do love myself just the way I am. The problem is that healthy self-esteem doesn't create better access to clothing, more comfortable seating, better treatment from strangers, or equal treatment by healthcare providers --- and it doesn't render the magazines at the checkstand invisible.
It took only 4 magazines, collected from the grocery store near my house in one shopping trip, to gather all of the clippings that make up the collaged portion of this work. I was struck by the casual tone that magazines used to deliver advice like "hunger is just your brain throwing a tantrum," and plans dedicated to mitigating the painful and debilitating effects of starvation (breezily described as "fasting"). I was particularly horrified by a headline celebrating an 80-year-old woman for losing 85 pounds, and the implications of living in a culture where you can spend 80 years on earth and find out that people feel your greatest accomplishment was taking up less space.