Clay sculpture, over 70 hours.

Throughout this entire project, my concept of creating awareness, or expressing experiences, opinions, or current Issues from either myself or others has stayed consistent. I wanted to express something very personal to me from my past, as well as my present. Anorexia or eating disorders is something l’ve struggled with for a long time, and within that time, l’ve noticed that it is vastly misunderstood and held upon the common stereotypes of literally not eating because of the need to control body weight. Yes, that is one large aspect of it; however, it goes much further than that. With this final piece, I wanted to depict a figurative scene of a female anorexic person weakly reaching out for help with what little energy she had left. The sculpture is almost falling apart with its missing arm, and its leaning spinal position gives it a vulnerable and frail aspect. The psychology of people with ‘Anorexia Nervosa’ is often hungry people who refuse sustenance deliberately because of certain intrusive thoughts or beliefs or phobias, which happens to come across as the most common variation of body weight control, which is why not many people understand the other, albeit more subtle forms of Anorexia. This stereotypical understanding can be compared to society’s understanding of self-harm. With self-harm in the public’s eye, it’s commonly believed that cutting wrists is the gist of it; however, that is completely Inaccurate. Self-harm can vary in many ways, from the simplest of scratching skin, alcoholism, or burning yourself. The fact that it’s not common knowledge, just like with Anorexia, is exactly why I planned to focus on it for my final piece. I hoped to catch people’s eyes with it and hopefully make them learn how it’s not just one type but multiple, thus spreading awareness of it.