Feast N Famine

Christopher Pastor

Professor. Cacoilo

Activist, Interloper Pranksters

April 18, 2019

Feast and Famine

My two pieces that I chose from the Feast & Famine exhibition were Thin by Lauren Greenfield and a poster Renee Cox made. My semester project is about gender, gender roles and the stereotypes that our society perpetuates.  

               The first piece I will be talking about is thin, which, I think, fits well into what my semester project is. This piece talks about eating disorders and photographs women that are undergoing treatment and a woman that overcame her eating disorder. It really shows this unrealistic pressure that society has put on women in order to stay desirable and if they are not deemed desirable, they are less valuable. It shows women in a very vulnerable position, it is very intimate, and the photos show a story of these women battling with their eating disorders. I think the project is very telling because not only do we see these women under extreme pressure to fit in, but we also do not see any men, whether they just did not want to be photographed or maybe they weren’t many there I think its an important thing to note. According to the Nation Eating Disorders Association “In the United States alone, eating disorders will affect 10 million males at some point in their lives. But due in large to cultural bias, they are much less likely to seek treatment for their eating disorder”. In my semester project I will be discussing the patriarchy, and here is a good example of how it negatively affects men. We live in a society today where men are not allowed to be vulnerable and taught it makes you less of a man if you do so but its okay for a woman because they are already deemed weaker than men. Eating disorders are associated with woman not men, which only further hurts us as a society.  

               The Second piece I will be talking about is the poster Renee Cox made, which the first time I saw it, caught my eye, it was one of my favorites. It’s a piece about race and racism in products. I never really thought of Aunt Jemima as a racist image, to be honest I never really thought of Aunt Jemima period. It really has opened my eyes, and despite that it may not be (hopefully) still associated with racism, the fact that the image comes from a stereotype that stemmed from racism is a problem. I think we have to push back on and be more conscious of things like these in order to stop ourselves in further being complacent and realize that these images hurt and perpetuate stereotypes of African Americans. Just like in the last chapter “Occupying Space” of “Seeing Power” by Nato Thompson, in the first few paragraphs it describes a protest, a march, for walkers right. I think this poster made by Renee Cox is another form of protest, which is why she places herself and two other people, that she will not allow herself to be complacent, the images of her and of Aunt Jemima and Uncle ben are completely different, from their facial expressions to the clothes they are wearing. Their clothed like superheroes and their pose, says strength, like she is fighting against the stereotypes.