Liberty Unbound

A collage made of magazine letter snippets forming words that read: ‘We have kidnapped your self-esteem and are holding it hostage for the $1.4 billion dollar ransom our cosmetics advertisers pay each year. Buy beauty products or else!!!’

I decide to change the world

not my size.

Become an activist.

Creating ugly, angry artwork.

I am frustratingly

green and untrained,

feel like I’ve fallen behind,

missed my chance

to be a real artist,

but I’m passionate

and there is no such thing

as too late to remember

we are all artists.

A black-and-white photo of a bathroom scale with the words, ‘Dangerous way to measure your worth’ taped to it and caution tape wrapped around it. The glass covering the circular dial which shows the weight has four quadrants drawn on it; from left to right, top to bottom: Horrid, Vile, Evil, Wicked. ‘Watch your step’ is pasted on the tiled ground in front of the scale.

Creating is an act of courage and hope,

and as for me and my art,

pretty is not the point.

Although damn do I wish

I could draw nice hands.

I deface my bathroom scale, add

A Warning

because a scale can’t measure

anyone’s sparkling personality.

A black-and-white photo of two naked Barbie dolls sitting beside each other. The one of the left has a medium-light skin tone and ribs drawn on its chest. Marks are drawn on its cheeks to appear hollow and it is holding a bundle of hair. Its hair is light, thin, and frizzy. The one on the right has a light skin tone, a very skinny waist, and dark liquid dried on its chin. It holds a bag labeled ‘chips’ and is surrounded by crumbs. Its hair is pulled back in a frizzy ponytail. ‘Meet two of Barbie’s newest friends!’ is in typed print above the photograph.

I repurpose fashion dolls into

Anorexia Ana*.

*Accessories include

a pink bathroom scale and

modeling contract!

and Bulimia Mia*

*with realistic purging action!

Have endless hours of fun helping them up when they faint!

And be sure to collect all of their hair

as it falls out in clumps!

A circular sticker with a simple cartoonish face in the center. The face has upside-down V-shaped eyebrows, closed eyes with three eyelashes, and a frowning mouth with a tongue sticking out. ‘Poisonous image! www.Dreamer-Girl.com’ is written in a black ring around the face.

I create bright pink Ms. Yuk stickers

that warn, “Poisonous Image!”

and post them throughout NYC

over ads that glorify starvation.

A black-and-white photo of the back of a pair of jeans. ‘Calvin Can Kiss my ass’ is written in light font from the far edge of the left pocket to the far edge of the right pocket. The C of ‘Can’ and the K of ‘Kiss’ are stylized similarly to the Calvin Klein logo.

I run a website dreamer-girl.com

get invited

to present my artwork

at a national eating disorder conference.

I share my story

at churches and high schools and universities.

Give slideshow presentations,

point my finger and shout

“Bullshit!”

to photoshopped images,

The cover of a parody magazine titled ‘Staarve Purgue.’ It shows a black-and-white photo of a person wearing a flowing dress with a plunging neckline down to their naval. They hold the hem of their skirt up to their hip, showing their legs and high-heeled sandals. They have a skeletal face, a medium skin tone, and shoulder-length dark hair that fans out from their face. Text: ‘Special insecurity issue. Skin and bones are in again this year… and you’re too fat.’ The same URL as the previous image is in the bottom right corner.

impossible standards,

and a wicked diet industry that

runs on the toxic fuel

of all of us hating our bodies,

feeding the fantasy

we each need to lose

approximately ten

to eighty-five pounds.

As if we have nothing better

to focus on.

A black-and-white photo of a person on the floor. Their body is oriented with their stomach facing the floor. Their forearms are pressed against the ground and their knees are pulled beneath them so their butt is in the air and the front of their calves touch their torso. Their head is on the floor and they face the reader with their fingers covering their mouth. Their hair is short and dark and they have a medium-light skin tone. They wear light underwear and a light tank top scrunched up to show their back and midriff. Words disappear into a black gradient on the right side of the photo: ‘Calv Kl.’ The words ‘wants you to bend over’ are typed on top of the person from their butt to their shoulder. ‘Stand up’ followed by the same URL as the previous images is in the bottom left corner.

Fuck that.

Your body does not need

to be remodeled.

A cartoon headstone that reads, ‘Ha-ha-ha I finally lost those damn ten pounds you should see how thin I look now.’

It needs

to be respected,

for the light it holds,

the light you are.

It’s a reckless act of rebellion

to love your body

as it is,

to accept every inch,

to celebrate

cellulite, curves,

and all the bouncy bits.

But please

I beg you

do it anyway.

A black-and-white photo of an iced cake with ‘Bulimia Have your cake and be thin too’ written on it. A model of a toilet overflowing with dark sludge is beneath ‘Bulimia.’ There are three groups of light frosting roses around the top edge of the cake.

Love yourself.

Your body parts

will not be dissected

from your heart and mind

and inner light. Loving yourself means

loving all of yourself.

A black-and-white photo collage. There are three horizontal sections, each filled with a particular body part. The top section is full of arms bent at different angles but all reaching upward. The middle section focuses on bare torsos and busts wearing bras. The bottom section is full of legs all bent at different angles but all pointing upward. The text: ‘A woman is worth more than the sum of her parts’ is split around the middle section.

And oh precious one,

just look now at that torch

in your very own hand.

See its unique brightness.

Do not compare it

or criticize it

or be ashamed

if it seems

not enough

or too weak.

Know that your light

is sacred.

Feel its power burning.

Shining with liberty

and creativity

and life

and youness

and pure love.

Join me,

raise your torch high in the air

and share it with the world.

THE END

The Statue of Liberty’s arm holding its lit torch.
A gradient of black scribbled lines. The page is all black on the bottom and gradually introduces more white space as the scribbles travel up the page.