“Little Cow Calfé” is a mixed media installation exploring the lack of representation of intersections of identity (race, gender, etc.) with plus size bodies, and executing that exploration through the world of mascots and merchandising. The space emulates the look of a themed pop-up cafe, decorated with charms, stickers, headbands, figures, menus and posters that I have made.
Being plus size can be very isolating at times, as the world often offers very limited portrayals of what fat people can be, wear, or aspire to, and my project aims to bridge that isolation. I hope that seeing a group of fun little characters of different identities and styles can help bring other plus size people joy when they can have a piece of merchandise that looks like them–which is an extremely rare occurrence–and that everyone of any size is pushed to celebrate bigger bodies.
While the normalization of these diverse representations is fabricated within this space, taking a piece of merchandise from it and wearing it visibly in the real world spreads that normalization and acceptance just a little bit into our reality. Joy will always be another form of resistance. ♡ ૮꒰˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶꒱ა
