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

I found an article by Jeremy Hirst on Anorexia and it led me to your site. I wondered if a recent series of paintings that I have done would warrant an exhibition at Bryn Mawr or another academic institution that works with Serendip. It is called "Measure for Measure, an artistic exploration of the mythology of eating disorders". I would be happy to mail a copy of the brochure and a few slides of the paintings for your review if you would be interested. It is my hope that this work can be displayed in an university gallery with lectures from experts on the treatment and prevention of eating disorders. This could serve to increase public awareness of this plague which is almost epidemic in proportion in our present society. I graduated from Stanford in 1963 with a B.S. in Physiology and went on to UCLA Medical School. I became a psychiatrist but became consumed by my family of 6 daughters and painting and left active practice. If you are interested in this topic please forward an address where I can send the brochure and slides.

Thanks for your note, and glad you found us. I'm not sure I'm in a position to be of much direct in connection with a physical gallery show, but I'd be happ to look over your materials and talk more if you were interested in the possibility of dong some kind of virtual exhibit on Serendip. Serendip is visited by about 1000 computers a day, with the majority of visitors interested in one or anoter aspect of brain/behavior (broadly conceived), so there's a serious audience on line, and one which might well include people in a position to work with you on physical gallery shows. We have some art exhibits on line (cf the new The Third Age in Paris), and are particularly interested in things at the art/science interface. Finally, as you now, we already have some materials on anorexia, and would certainly be interested in expanding that theme. "lectures from experts on the treatment and prevention of eating disorders" we don't have, but we do have some general relevant expertise/resources (Neurobiology and Behavior), and, if you had a little time/inclination, we could probably work together to turn up some interesting additional materials.

Paul,

I am very excited about the possibility of getting some sort of emotional and visceral feedback from people about the subject and the images. I am struck by how differently people with the same eating disorder react to the images and personalize them. If something like that can be built into the exhibit it would be most satisfying to me. I would even like to see if people would give me permission to overlay text of some of these thoughts on images in the future.

It is so great to see this thing unfolding. I have some input for you about various things. One comment I received from a person looking at the site is that lots of people with the disease might find the word mythology offensive. If we do some sort of explanation of the project or bio on me or whatever we should include the statement that I specifically used the word mythology because people get so involved in the "old wives tales" aspect of the diseases and wrapped up in the purported causes that they do not look at the individual and what is happening to them and what contributes to their particular manifestation of the disease. It's very similar to the doctors going on rounds to see "the liver" in 212a. We are recognizing the manifestations of the disease more now, but we are still not focused on the person with the disease.

I don't know whether I told you or not but in my original "art statements" and talks with people at my shows, I emphasized how serendipity was something that I relied on heavily in my work. The evolution of the project through the hands and heads of like minded people should produce something we can find very fulfilling.

I like the idea of separating the comments from the work because the comments lead rather than stimulate flow of thought and energy from "the self" who relates to it.

If you have reservations about any image being on the site, please say so. I will not be offended. It is hard for me to know just what people will find too shocking or offensive in our society and the art world. Artists are given pretty wide lattitude now. I guess what I am trying to say is I don't want something to draw such controversy to the subject that it defeats the purpose of education and developing concern about these disorders. I primarily selected the images for this series in response to what feelings they provoke and sometimes an image which I did not think related to eating disorders at all brings out that kind of response.

Paul,

The group of comments I remember were from several people with different forms and severity of the disease. I took the liberty of mixing the comments somewhat and was surprised to find that my memory is really scant on what has been said about the pieces. I think I was originally so shocked to find a more or less consistent response to these images as eating problem representations or whatever that I focused on the phenomenon rather than which individual said what. When I say shocked, I mean surprised that people reveal so much to me about what the image provokes (let down their guard) than patients did who were in therapy for a long time even in a good therapeutic relationship.

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If you will indulge my raving on for a moment, this series sort of made a cross over for me between my training and my therapeutic self and my rambling through the rest of my life self. I would be concerned and emphatic about and to our friends and my children's friends when I perceived problems but I made a point of emphasizing to them that ìwe shrinks are not always working.î I detached my analytic psychological self from what people were telling me in polite conversation. I felt this was important and essential because people are very uncomfortable around you when you are ìa shrinkî. All of a sudden, with this new series people were not just relating to my images at shows with, "it's powerful, I like it, etc" but were really opening up about it. I still try not to analyze it or engage in any therapy. I feel the most productive thing I can do is what we are doing, bring attention to the need for detection, education, tolerance, and funding for effective treatment.

Perhaps the images make me sort of a bartender where people perceive that I understand them because of the setting. Art and music encourage the expression of feelings and are a part of our culturally acceptable places to speak about things that touch us.

No reservations whatsoever [about images in exhibit]. I did, at the outset, show images to sundry people to see whether THEY were shocked or offended. No problems (and certainly none on my part). Suspect when we go public we may get some expressions of concerns, but presume we both prepared to respond to that, and think some more open dialogue on the appropriateness of images of naked bodies in various contexts is part of what we're about here.

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Yes, recognize VERY much the "bartender" phenomenon. Is part of my own experience with the images, sense of excitement about creating a web version of your exhibit. Agree that what we want to preserve is the sense of people being free to say what they think of, without the "analysis" editor being turned on.