Totally agree. Part of the fun of art is that different people will interpret things in different ways. Take away what you want, her intention gets skewed as soon as she made herself a central part of the project.

At first I questioned whether this series was making a valid statement about people’s perception of *size*, because the model was wearing such odd, garish clothes. But then it occurred to me that if a thin woman were dressed identically, people would just assume she shopped at American Apparel.

I notice a lot of people commenting about her weight, but what about the fact that these are some of the most boring vacation snapshots I’ve ever looked at. She should find a different career.

Slight changes in wording can make huge differences in how people treat each other, so for anyone to explicitly mention their characterization of other things is an opinion and/or dependent on their limited awareness makes me happy. :) I apologize if it appeared to you I was only trying to be rude. Cheers, and thank you, Igor.

actually speaking as someone who has hypothyroidism, sometimes it is manageable and then sometimes it’s not. maybe you think that she was setting people up in a way, but I can tell you that sometimes I get the same looks from people when I am grocery shopping or shopping for clothes, I get those looks from people to because… I don’t know why I get those looks.maybe because I’m not a size 2, but that really doesn’t mean that I’m any different from any of you. I have a health condition and that is not a cop out. It’s a true fact.

I think it is interesting how overweight is seen as an invalidation in itself. I never see anyone question people taking pictures of beautiful women, people that mutilize themselves with tattoos or piercings, etc. Those pictures are seen as ‘art’, but people forget that art is about more than just beauty or people’s perception of that.

In essence what makes something art and therefore a ‘valid photo project’ is because it tells a story that goes beyond the immediate through a particular depiction of the immediate. This photo project certainly does this as it depicts ‘shame’ in all its different guises, in different settings and under different conditions.

It is the particular kind of shame that is associated with heavy weight in contemporary society, that is depicted here. The comments trying to unvalidate the project are reflections in word of the same kind of shame depicted in pictures.

Apart from the expression of ‘shame on you’ that the bystanders seem to express at least to me as I go through the pictures (regardless of what the people in fact feel or think), the expressions of Haley Morris herself are even more important in evoking shame. Her whole self-image is one of heaviness, burdoned beyond her weight, by shame and pity, of the world around her. Both in her posture and in the mere concept of this serie of photo’s (photo’s together making a conceptual work of art) there is an expressed consciousness of the greater concept of shame. Through the project this awareness of ‘the self’ and of the world, both in direct and abstract terms, is shared with the audience.

Indeed a highly successful project of contemporary conceptual art, very accessible to us all.

What does Newton have to do with it? There are no hard and fast rules on the way individuals metabolize food. Most recent research suggests that multiple factors come into play including genetics, disease, medication and the quality of the food itself.

What would it prove if people made fun of you for being a skinny and, presumably, odd looking white male? It would probably reinforce the idea that people can be cruel toward those who don’t conform to society’s standards for beauty.

So…what are you afraid of? Go ahead and prove her point.

What all photographs have in common is that they capture tiny moments in time. That’s all these photographs do. Interpretation of their significance is up to the viewer….in this case, that would be her Internet audience.

The photographer has said very little about what she sees in the photographs, other than to describe the process through which they evolved. She’s a professional photographer, and director of an art school graduate photography program, who discovered something in the process of working on a project…that people were giving her funny looks. She decided to focus on the funny looks and this is the result.

The responses of the commenters here and elsewhere (I’m sure this is getting a lot of comment on HuffPo) are part of the process but they reflect the thoughts, feelings beliefs, prejudices, fears of the commenters and not those of the photographer…that’s what makes them so interesting.

I think it’s the aim of most artists to generate discussion. We all like it when someone admires our work, but most artists want it to do more than just hang on a wall. Morris-Cafiero seems to have hit the jackpot with this series. It’s pushing all kinds of buttons and resonating on all kinds of levels. For that, I congratulate her. They’re provocative …that’s the highest level of praise you can give an artist, in my opinion.

nice leica.

what makes you an expert on photo projects?

It’s amazing how much discussion this has brought up. Just a shame that most people are slamming what she’s doing or just picking apart her appearance or her clothes. Barely anyone actually discussing the photographs themselves. oh well. PetaPixel is turning into TMZ! D:

I think she’d know what was valid or not; she’s the Director of Graduate Studio Arts Program at the Memphis College of Art.

Yeah, “unsuccessful” might speak more to her intent, but “success” is subjective, too, so would also depend on one’s intended ends.

I had read those lines before I made my comment. They were not written by Haley Morris-Cafiero, but rather by Michael Zhang. Furthermore, they do not say anything about her conclusions as to why people have looked at her as they have in the photographs she presented.

Nancy I agree with you. If I were self conscious I wouldn’t be broadcasting my image, and I wouldn’t want to call attention to the fact that people give me dirty looks or make fun of me behind my back. I think this photo project is interesting because we all pass judgment on others whether we realize it or not, and maybe this is a small way for her to say Hey I know you’re staring at me – her photos allow her to pass judgment on the stares she gets. Overall the photos make me sad for her. Kind of like when you’re whispering about someone and you find out they’re right behind you.

The majority of those looks are in response to her odd behavior and disheveled manor of dress.

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So she needs to lose weight because YOU’VE been conditioned to believe that certain body types are “right”?! Get OVER yourself! If you can tell me that you put your judgy-pants on every time you see a thin person with high blood pressure ordering a steak then maybe we’d have something to talk about but the fact that you see people with certain body types as needing to lose weight is YOUR problem not HERS!! Say thank you to the movies, ads, tv shows, music videos, articles, and about a bazillion other places where we are told what is acceptable – because you’ve successfully bought into everything they’ve sold you. You must be super proud of that. The reason you need fat people to be “wrong” is so that you can get up in the morning and feel superior to others. Self-righteousness is not an attractive quality. Instead of worrying about how many pounds others need to shed you should work on losing your arrogance and feeling of inherent superiority. What a sheep.

Heisenberg uncertainty principle – the measuring changes the thing being measured, so we can’t know if the people would have acted the same if not photographed in this way – there may be less or more staring without the camera. Also it is hard to tell where peoples eyes are looking – are they looking at her or past her down the street at oncoming cars – and impossible to know what they are thinking – are they laughing at her or a joke the person next to them just told?

ahhh. I dunno, I am haven’t been looking at them more than once to be honest. Well it’s your opinion and I am not going to try and force you to change it :) everyone’s entitled to their own :)

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He nothing wrong in being fat. It’s about how you take it and what effort s are you taking to get rid of this unwanted fat as this may invite few diseases like hypertension diabetes mellitus and ischaemic heart disease.Dear think about your future. I am worried. Love u take care

It doesn’t make a difference what I think is or isn’t right. It’s what SHE thinks about HERSELF.

The fact that she thinks all these people are jeering at her shows that she has a low-self opinion (because they’re quite obviously not jeering).