A Plus-Size Photographer Captures Strangers' Reactions To Her Very Presence

[KamaAina]

http://culture.viralnova.com/haley-morris-calfiero/

Photographer Haley Morris-Cafiero has long been aware of peoples' cruelty towards her based on her size. Living in a society that's obsessed with thinness, life can be hard for larger people, especially women. Morris-Cafiero, however, decided to turn this meanspirited habit into art, and hopefully make people more aware of their judgmental attitudes.

The project became a photo series called Wait Watchers, where Morris-Cafiero photographs herself in public settings, where people, who don't realize they're on camera, can be seen in the background laughing at her or giving her strange looks. And no, she's not doing anything strange, nor is she very obvious about taking the photo. The photos are taken with a self-timing camera, and Morris-Cafiero, once the shot is set up, goes about a normal activity like talking on the phone or seeming to wait for someone. Behind her, you can usually see a passerby giving her the side-eye.

Morris-Cafiero, who is based in Memphis, first noticed that she was being appraised by strangers while working on another project. For one of the photos, she took a self-portrait sitting on steps in Times Square. When she looked back through the pictures, she noticed that she wasn't the only one taking pictures. A man behind her was making a face at her while his friend snapped a picture of him. The event stood out to her. "Even though we're in the sensory-overload capital of the world, and he's being photographed, he seems to be fixated on me," she comments. She began to notice the phenomenon in more of her own photos as well. Instead of retreating from the public eye, though, she decided to meet it head to head.

She began setting up cameras in public places, and then staging it to look like she just happened to be in the area. The photos capture not only Morris-Cafiero herself, but the reactions of the passerby. "I'm very interested in how society uses the gaze to communicate their emotion, then how we, in turn, interpret the way people look at us," she explains. The Wait Watchers project turns the strangers' gaze at Morris-Cafiero back on themselves, and, she hopes, make people aware of the issues of body image, shaming of larger people, which Morris-Cafiero has experienced first hand.

[uppityperson]

1. To be fair, it is difficult in some of those to tell whether they are about her or not, being only

a brief moment in time.

The cop one is awful, and some are obviously looking at her, but looking at someone with a big map could be just the map for instance.

It is interesting, looking at photos since they are a moment in time. I look at all sorts of people, but agree that too many people are too judgmental.

[petronius]

14. That's my reaction - this is one of those situations where something can be 'truth-y'

without necessarily being absolute truth. There's not one of those where I can say for certain that the other people are fat-shaming, judging, or even looking at her. (Even the cop, that strikes me as one of those playful things that a strolling officer might do when passing a posing tourist. It could be annoying--I'd find it funny, myself--but it's not necessarily hostile or about her appearance.)

The project as a whole, however, makes a valid statement about how society looks at large people, and how they feel themselves being looked at...

[GreatGazoo]

2. Love the irony of the superliminal in the first one -- "Anonymity isn't for everyone" !

Most of the others seem very ordinary IMHO. The passersby are mostly looking at her head/face and do not, to me, seem in any way clearly judgmental.

NYC is a great place to be an exhibitionist. If you want attention you will find it here. To be fair, even if you don't want attention ("10 Hrs in NYC&quot you will still find it here.

People look you in the face as they pass (unless they are glued to their smartphone). They may even speak to you, total strangers, will say anything to anyone. I usually like the dynamic.

In this increasingly online world, it is nice to have a place where people embrace being present and in the moment. There is a kind of spiritual Zen quality to it.

[nilesobek]

9. When I got off the bus at the port authority,

there was a ten hour layover so we grabbed our 200 lb packs and headed uptown, never being in NY before we weren't sure where we were going.

First thing I noticed was that most of the pedestrians were busy with their cellphones. The cab drivers were very aggressive approaching us, asking if we were fares. All the while honking their horns furiously and yelling at each other.

Then there were the cops, there seemed to be 3 or 4 on every street corner, either walking the beat in tandem or parked in their cars. When we passed them on foot they didn't even bother to stop us and ask what was inside our enormous packs.

We ended up at Times Square and hung out a bit and ate some NY pizza before the trek back some 30 blocks or something. But the sights and sounds and smells of NYC were really something special. Totally unexpected was the people. I had heard that NY could be really rude but I found the exact opposite.

[GreatGazoo]

10. When I first moved to the city and when I return from trips, the smell of food always gets me.

Like when you step from the airplane to one of those hooded ramp things at LaGuardia you smell sauerkraut immediately. The sidewalks often smell like tomato sauce and pizza dough in a nearby oven, or a bakery or some street cart's curry chicken.

There are rude people here and the semi-anonymity of the streets can give some people license to be jerks but in general it is like being at huge party -- anyone can talk to anyone else and you just start your conversation in the middle, so not "hi my name is..." but rather "did you see that guy just almost get hit?!" "Yeah, he needs a smartphone app that says 'Look up! You're about to get run over'"

People are ruder in tourist area (true in all big cities) than elsewhere. I also think your own energy makes about 80% of the difference. You know like when you just have that happy traveler's glow then it attracts like-energy form others and it protects you from perceiving, rightly or falsely, negativity from others.

You sound like a fun person to travel with.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. Cruelty takes many forms. n/t

[Beacool]

4. Fat shaming is the last acceptable prejudice.

The excuse is concern for the person's health, but it's usually a cruel way to make themselves feel better. As if they were saying to themselves, "I may not look like a Vogue/GQ model, but at least I'm not a fat slob like that man/woman." There's a certain smugness about the derision of some over people who are overweight.

As for the pics, some may be innocent. Cops in Times Square (although that looks like 6th Ave.) always joke around with the tourists. I've seen it often enough, particularly the mounted police (people love to take photos of them on their horses). The most judgmental look I think is from the young Asian girl in shorts. The next to the last pic was taken in Barcelona. It's a market called Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria. I love the place, it has great stuff.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

5. In the first photo, everyone is covered up for cold weather

and she is sitting there looking like she doesn't have the good sense to cover up. Most people would have definitely noticed her.

And the second photo everyone is moving and she's just standing there.

The more interesting reactions are the photos where she is sunbathing. Sad.

[UglyGreed]

6. I read about this

on Salon. Very sad the way strangers judge each other. Just go about your business.

[wheniwasincongress]

7. i remember these posted here from a while ago

They are ridiculous and out of context. We don't know what the people are thinking or if they even are looking at the woman in the first place. I'm sure many of them are looking at her - she is posing, having her photo taken by someone or has a set timer - people look at people having their photo taken, especially when they're posing!

[Scuba]

8. Discrimination against obese women is rampant in America.

[daredtowork]

11. Excellent Project

The gaze is reflected back to show the "ugliness" is in the exchange, and in the baseless judgment involved, not in the person it's aimed at.

If you Google something like weight/obesity and career/salary, you will find the media also harps on this annually for over a decade now: warning overweight people - women in particular - that they will have problems getting hired, and they will make less money when they do. It's like a massive pressure from society trying to use economic forces to pound people into diamonds. It seems to me that such articles are instead an indirect confession of discrimination against people who may have become obese for a variety of medical reasons - not just to spite society by "not meeting fitness standards" and generating more insurance claims.

The gaze is returned with a valid grievance.

[justiceischeap]

12. It's really hard to tell from her photos

if what she states is going on is what's really going on.

In NYC, if you stop in the middle of the sidewalk, it's akin to stopping in the middle of a busy street. She'd get looks just for that.

However, if her photography was actually anything more than snapshots, she may have a more powerful message with the visual impact.

I don't doubt that she has captured some "gazes" and some of those may actually be because of her body but in the NYC photos it's hard to tell the cause with certainty. As a photographer myself, I'm always studying people and things even if I don't have a camera in hand--I still take visual snaps in my mind.

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. that was all over the internet more than a year ago... nothing wrong with a new thread

but just in case you thought it was a new story