30 Million Americans and Counting

My recent series, 30 million Americans and Counting, is inspired by the many women and men in my life who struggle with body positivity and have engaged in a restrictive diet plan. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, approximately 30 million Americans live with an eating disorder. In pursuit of unattainable body ideals, many Americans have engaged in unhealthy food restriction, eating disorders, and diet plans lacking any nutritional benefit. This series of still-life photographs depict the negative outcomes of societal ideals of the twenty-first century, specifically the effect of weight and diet culture norms on human behavior and self-perception. Each individual photo depicts a meal inspired by a popular dieting trend from the early 2000’s, while the objects in the photos reference specific decades of the twenty-first century. Within this work I ask the viewer to consider what might happen if we ignore societal pressure to obtain specific body types, and aim to bring an awareness to an issue millions of men and women struggle with on a daily basis in America.