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| Original Photography - Jennifer Lefebvre |
This
weekend as I was perusing some articles on Facebook, I came across an
interesting story about Haley Morris-Cafiero.
Haley is a photographer and she noticed one day that as she was taking a
self-photo in New York City, a stranger in the background seemed to be looking
at her oddly. She examined the photo a
little bit more and then decided to conduct a social experiment in which she,
an overweight person, photographed herself to see if she could capture stranger’s
reactions to her as she was performing normal activities like exercising or
shopping for food, etc. What she found
was surprising. Haley captured photos
upon photos of people staring at her; seemingly because she is an overweight
person.
Upon
looking at the photos, I have to admit that sometimes she was performing
activities in odd places where I would imagine anyone would stare no matter
what your size. For instance, in one
picture she seems to be working out in the middle of a very busy sidewalk and
passersby try to maneuver around her.
Nevertheless, in many photos, she does not seem to be doing anything out
of the ordinary, yet the reactions of others that she captured are
disturbing. Here is a link
to the story.
We
cannot in any way imagine what the people are actually thinking; one can only
assume. However, as an overweight and
previously obese person, I know the looks all too well. While we indeed take up more physical space
in the world, we would rather remain invisible…instead of looking at us in
jest, please just don’t look at us. I
have written about this previously. And while people rarely looked me in the eye,
I guess I didn’t like to think about the fact that they did, in fact, very much
notice me. If I could have seen the
looks people gave me when I was not looking, I would have been
heartbroken.
I
think that Haley is brave.
She
writes:
“I have
always had a hard time controlling my weight. My uncontrollable exterior has
determined my place in society and I have often felt left out and awkward. For
this series, I photograph myself in socially engaged spaces to examine how my
body fits into society. I choose compositions within social sites: restaurants,
stores, pools and other places of leisure. I attempt to juxtapose my place in
the scene with issues that contribute to my weight gain.”
Haley
is creating a composition of not only the photos, but of the comments that
people leave for her on social media sites.
I know this already, but the world is cruel. Some of the hateful comments that she has
received are truly eye-opening. Many of
us would not put ourselves out there like this; she should be applauded.
If
you are interested in more about Haley Morris-Cafiero and her project, The Wait
Watchers, please visit her website.
I
want to leave you with this thought today:
forget anyone of no importance to you.
Do not waste time or energy on people who do not matter. Surround yourself with people who love you
for you. Remove the people from your life who do not make
you feel beautiful every single day. And for goodness sake, we should take lessons
from Haley...be brave, BE GREAT, make others feel great, and dance to the beat of our own drums.