Artwork / Empathetic Magic / Rachele Fitting In and Standing Out
Fat Shaming on the Grass (Rachele Fitting In) and Superfat Crop Top Girl Gang (Rachele Standing Out)
2017
acrylic on bird’s eye piqué
each painting 18 inches in diameter
Rachele Cateyes met me at Fat Fancy, a vintage clothing store for fat people in Portland, Oregon, where we were both living at the time. I had emailed her through her art and advocacy blog where she was writing and drawing about being fat and fabulous, and where she would later sell her fantastic coloring book Superfat Crop Top Girl Gang.
Rachele was open to my idea, but, before she would agree to participate in the series, she wanted to meet in public. She needed to confirm I was who I said I was, and not one of the thousands of Internet creeps who stalked and harassed her because she refused to be ashamed of her body.
Her wariness felt appropriate. As a woman who regularly publishes her opinions on the world wide web, I have had my share of hateful words heaped on me. But as I got to know Rachele, I came to understand that her detractors belong to a wider group and that their vitriol is on a whole other level. To be fat and happy is to be a living, breathing revolution.
You can watch me paint Fat Shaming on the Grass or see the making of Superfat Crop Top Girl Gang.
