Factivism

Instagram artists advocating for fat bodies #FatActivism

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@cuttingshapes.club is a fashion and retail business that markets clothing to fat bodies. They advertise themselves as a dress company with specially designed patterns that are all made by someone of a fat and/or queer background. I found this business while scrolling through @kit_scribbles page. When I say the patterns are designed by artists, I really mean that the company owners selected artists to custom design art that were then printed on their dresses. This is a collaboration of so many artists at work with activism. This entire company is advocating for fat folks to wear a dress that actually come in plus-sizes, as claimed on their website. They have a custom designed size chart with specific measurements for the most accurate and comfortable fit. They said to heck with industry standards and made sure to provide the best most comfortable product for their customers. Even more than just a chart they provided detailed notes about the sizes and measurements and how to measure as well as posting pictures of models and satisfied customers showing of their dresses and sizes. The website and Instagram account shows all fat bodied models which is in a total defiance of standard sizes of models used in our current society. The various artists who individually created the different the designs were supportive of the cause and were hand selected because of their involvement in either the fat or queer community. I think that this was an amazing collective effort of artists that made a successful company, with a successful product and were advocating for fat bodies directly.  This is a way to encourage hope and create positive change!

https://cuttingshapes.club/

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@kit_scribbles Is an Instagram artist who makes mostly portraits of fat figures in an animated fashion. All of the figures that Kit creates are all androgynous and not gendered. I really appreciate that all of the figures have various body shapes, outfits, and there are variations of people of color. It so important to recognize that there are fat queer people of color. These folks experience an additional aspect of oppression because of their intersecting identity. Kit is an example of an ally to people of color and takes it upon themselves to be a fat activist for folks of a multitude of identities. This is the power of art. There are opportunities for expressing the experiences of many people. The fact that Kit is on Instagram allows for their art to be seen by anyone. This creates another layer of activism because of the mass of individuals that they are exposing their art to. Kit does not often caption their artworks with much explanation, the characters are rarely named. I think this is a way to allow the viewer to have their own experience with the figures and allow an open interpretation. I had the privilege to be in a group art show with two other wonderful and talented artists. One artist named James, did something similar to Kit. All of the figures were rather androgynous. What one might associate with “feminine” and “masculine” features were incorporated into each figure. James made the distinction that none of the figures had genders and this was very eye opening and I believe eventually lead to some inspiration to the work I have been doing for over a year now.

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Sam Orchard author and illustrator of Rooster Tails is a trans and fat activist using his art to call attention to the internal and external struggles that accompany these intersecting identity.

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A photographer named Sugar McD uses the Instagram handle @shooglet and they work to integrate trans fat bodies into nature. This is a way to advocate and normalize the bodies these folks because it is so unpopular in society. I want to link McD’s work to some readings I have done in my Fat Studies class where I am looking at the implications of fat queer folks and the struggles that society can present. This work is advocating for fat queer folks and showing that they are art. In the book Fat Studies Reader, in the chapter ‘Chubby Boys with Strap-Ons-Queering the transmasculine embodiment’, there is a dialogue between the author and the illustrator of a cartoon, Sam Orchard. Throughout the conversation he includes personal accounts of his experiences living as a fat trans man. He talks to the writer in Fat Studies Reader about how when he was living as a female he felt like it was more acceptable to be fat. While hanging around smaller groups of gay men he felt very emasculated. He feels that his fatness was perceived as more feminine because he had curves. The cartoon is just as open and honest, sharing about how fatness tied into his transition. By Sugar intertwining fat trans fat bodies into nature Sugar is rewriting the way the world is. I interpret these photographs as allowing these folks to be one with the landscape, creating new aspects in the world. I think that Sugar’s form of fat activism is like that of Sam Orchard because they are both trying to implement change of perspective and create a new narrative for people to view fat trans folks.

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Micki Harris is a Chicago based artist using the Instagram name @native.delirium. They did a project called the open letter series. Instagram is such an interesting space because you can get endlessly lost in it jumping from person to person, watching stories and finding videos. I also find so many interesting and informative captions under photos. I also find links that lead to articles in people’s biography under their name. I discovered Micki Harris because of a photographer that I follow, photographed someone who posted about being a part of a photo series called the open letter series. This was a series where folks were photographed in the nude and had written letters to their bodies about what they could say to them. I found this so interesting because artist Micki Harris chose to photograph people with all different bodies. Although they are not fat themselves, they photographed multiple fat bodies, queer bodies, bodies of color, and bodies of various genders. I think that this is a form of fat activism by being inclusionary and showing the diversity of bodies that truly exist in this world. Not every body is a thin white cis-gendered body that society would like us to believe. It is unrealistic to assume people’s bodies should conform to such a narrow scope.

https://mickiharris.com/theopenletterseries/

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@prairie.queer Hunter Athena. They do body positive modeling, activism through fashion, and advocate for disabled, queer, and fat folks. These are all intersecting aspects of their identity, so they have a lot of personal ties to their activism. Having this personal blog is a demonstration of fat activism because of the content that is posted. In the picture above Hunter is talking about how they experience gender dysphoria. This particular post really connected to me in my life because I experience a lot of what they were talking about. I have not come out as being non-binary because I worry that I am not queer enough. Hunter is talking about their body not defining their gender. They love their body so much but find society’s gender constructs to be the source of their pain. I really appreciate that they have so much passion for the rights and recognition of all aspects of their identity. They have posts appreciating their fat body, posts expressing their aspects of their gender, and they talk about their disabilities. This honesty is a powerful form of activism. They do modeling and they use fashion as a form of activism. They wear what best expresses themselves and I think that is a way to call attention to the multiplicities of gender and queerness that exist. I also know that their fashion is a way to object to the typical social conventions of what fat people can and cannot wear. I believe this is in part what made them want to start working on a fashion line. Posting photographs in undergarments with a lot of exposed skin or even taking pictures of their fat belly and posting these are examples of fat activism.