|
|
|
FOR MORE INFORMATION
CONTACT: Russell Guerrero
Aug. 30, 2006
Artist Uses Photographic Sculptures to Address Issue of Eating Disorders
SAN ANTONIO – The issue of negative body image and eating disorders has been approached by various areas of study including psychology, medicine, and mass communication, but is rarely addressed in the form of art. Through her exhibition Family Gathering: A Look into the World of Eating Disorders, Joy Christiansen, the Lennox Young Visiting Artist at Trinity University, approaches the issue of eating disorders with a series of photographic sculptures. Christiansen’s exhibition will open with a reception at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22 in the gallery of Trinity University’s newly renovated Dicke Art Building. The reception will include a short introduction by Carolyn Black Becker, associate professor of psychology at Trinity University, whose main area of research focuses on eating disorders. The exhibition will run through Friday, Nov. 17. The gallery will be open to the public Saturdays and Sundays from 1- 5 p.m.
“The objective of this exhibition is to encourage dialogue surrounding the issues of body image and eating disorders and end the silence and secrets about this disease,” said Christiansen.” The exhibition expresses the harsh reality of eating disorders and how they affect one’s life and the lives of family members and aims to connect the general public regarding this issue through art.”
The photographic sculptures employ the use of furniture transformed through the use of photographic transfer materials, fabrics, and embroidery and then adorned with original photographic imagery and text that narrate a personal story of an eating disorder.
Christiansen received her M.F.A. degree in photography from Texas Woman’s University and her B.F.A. in photography and painting from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Christiansen teaches both traditional and digital photography as well as 2-D design and composition. Christiansen is an active exhibiting artist working in photo-based installation. Her work has gained recognition through regional and national exhibitions and lectures. She is a grant recipient from Miami University, a 2004 Fellow of The Photography Institute’s National Graduate Seminar at Columbia University in New York and received the 2005 Freestyle/SPE Crystal Apple Award.
For more information, contact Trinity’s department of art and art history at (210) 999-7682.
--30--
© 2006 Trinity University