Measure for Measure:
An Artistic Exploration of Eating Disorders, Body Image, and the Self

WELCOME ...

Additional Material

• ON-LINE FORUM

• Janna Stern
• Origins of the Exhibit

• Web Resources About Eating Disorders

• A resource list of other selves seen From the Inside

• Another example of the use of images to explore differences among selves

About the Artist

Janna Stern is a West Coast artist for whom "serendipity is a delightful ally in the creative process". Working from her own photographs and found materials, she assembles digital images "to take risks. I follow no rules, explore continuously ... Most of my work centers on women's issues". A rural midwesterner by birth, Janna's art draws as well on medical training, motherhood, life in southern California, and "a growing dissatisfaction with institutionalized concepts, theories, and cures for society's maladies".

Background to the Exhibit

Janna also wrote to Paul Grobstein at Serendip, and in an exchange of correspondence the two quickly found not only a shared concern about eating disorders but, more generally, a shared interest in the use of visual images as a way to explore and share understandings of the real and important differences between individual selves. They jointly conceived this exhibit as both a contribution to more public discussion of the internal "selfness" of eating disorders and an experiment in trying to promote interpersonal understanding by way of visual images.

Viewing the Exhibit

The exhibit is organized so that visitors can compare their own reactions to Janna's images with the reactions of women who have self-identified as being or having been troubled by eating disorders. Individual images are accessed by clicking on titles in the image index to the left. To the right on each image is a link which will add to the page comments on that image collected from women with eating disorders. The comments, presented anonymously, were collected by Janna and Paul from visitors to Janna's campus shows, acquaintances, and people associated with eating disorder websites. The sample is small, and we make no presumption either that it is representative of women with eating disorders nor that there is to be expected any homogeneity in such reactions and comments. Our immediate objective is simply to encourage viewers to appreciate differences between selves, both in relation to eating disorders and more generally.

Extending the Exhibit ... and Beyond

One might like to have a larger sample of reactions from women with eating disorders. One might like also to compare reactions of other groups of people. If you are interested in such explorations and would like to help us make them a part of this exhibit, please drop us an email.

Finally, we hope that this exhibit will in fact contribute to greater open discusion, understanding, and ultimately alleviation of the suffering associated with eating disorders. To learn more about these, and to participate in ongoing conversations elsewhere, we have provided a list of Web Resources About Eating Disorders. Comments about this list and suggestions for additions to it are welcome.