In Taking Up Space, I explore the fat female body through an exuberant abstraction of the bodily form using the traditionally feminine practice of fiber art. My vibrant and unapologetic color palette references the racial roots of fatphobia. In my research, I learned of the fetishization and demonization of large black women. Western society is obsessed with the thin, white body as the feminine ideal. By creating enigmatic, colorful forms bursting from white frames, I expose the tension we feel in our own bodies when they do not conform to society’s standards.
